All Day and Night
by wacko12
Summary: The Revised version of Sun Naruto is saved after the battle at the Valley of the End. Throwing away his former ideals and belief Naruto takes up the name Zen to complete a plan and bring forth an ancient power to complete his greatest desire. No flames and slight NaruHina.
1. The New Sage

**Okay here is my revised version of the story. As I said before this will have different characters but more or less the same plotline. Enjoy and review.**

**Valley of the End**

A hooded man watched from the trees as two genin of Konoha, Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki, faced off against each other in mortal combat. Both had gone to extreme lengths to defeat the other, with Naruto tapping into the power of the Kyuubi while Sasuke was using the power of the curse seal given to him by Orochimaru. Despite the power they were putting off the two were tired with fatigue of fighting for so long. The hooded man watched as both genins were about to use their most powerful techniques on each other.

"Rasengan!" Naruto shouted.

"Chidori!" Sasuke shouted as the two leaped at each other.

The hooded man watched in some awe as the attacks came into contact and created a sphere of darkness surrounding the two genins. A few minutes later it dispelled and both genins, now normal again, fell to the water hard and didn't move. The hooded man waited for a bit before heading off towards them to check how they were. Sasuke, he saw, was bruised all over and his left legs was covered in gashes that, left untreated, would probably become infected or make him cripple. Naruto was the worse of the two, the Kyuubi's chakra along with the attacks that Sasuke landed on him, half of Naruto's body was mangled and his face was heavily scarred. After checking their pulses and confirming that they were fine he pulled both over towards the shore so they wouldn't drown. Then, leaving Sasuke where he was the hooded man picked up Naruto and headed off in the opposite direction of Konoha. But before he left he took off Naruto's headband and threw it into the water, not watching as it sunk to the bottom.

A few hours later the jonin Kakashi Hatake arrived to the valley along with his nin-dog Pakkun. What he saw shocked him. "Good Kami look at this place. Did two genin really do all this?" He asked himself as he began walking around for any signs of his students. When he spotted Sasuke's form he immediately ran over to him to see if he was alive. Fortunately he was and appeared unconscious, however on the safe side he tied him up with some wire, left Pakkun to keep an eye on him and went to look for Naruto.

'Where could he have gone to?' Kakashi wondered as he kept looking. 'Could it be that someone took him?' "Pakkun can you pick up Naruto's scent?" Kakashi asked.

Pakkun began to sniff the air and soon began moving towards a direction. Then he stopped and shook his head. "Nothing, I can't even get a single waft. His body might've been obliterated for all we know." The dog-nin said in a sad tone.

Kakashi looked down ashamed that he couldn't prevent the death of one of his students. Moving silently, the jonin picked up Sasuke and headed back towards Konoha with Pakkun following.

**Konoha Five Months Later**

Within the first three months after Naruto's death and the return of Sasuke, Tsunade Senju, the fifth Hokage of Konoha and one of the few people that cared for the boy, almost went on a mad rampage/depression when she realized that the civilian council had gone behind her back and revealed Naruto's secret to the younger generation against her wishes or that of the ninja clans. The reason was that the civilian council wanted the rest of the villagers to know why Naruto was proclaimed dead/hated in order to gain their trust. Deciding that finding Naruto was more important at the time, Tsuande quickly sent out all the ninjas she could afford to find Naruto, her hopes were dashed when she realized that Naruto could not be found no matter where they searched within the Land of Fire, not even with the aid of the endangered Bokouchuu, a type of beetle which remembers the first scent it smells and would be instinctively drawn to it no matter how faint it is. The fact that she cannot continue the search was due to the civilian council's political manipulation and how using shinobi and Jiraiya's spy network to find Naruto was a waste of time only made her hate them even more for spitting on the closest thing she had to a younger brother ever since the Third Ninja World War.

So strong was her resentment that she staunchly refused to treat their "precious" Uchiha Sasuke's admittedly horrific injury unless they undo the cancel of the search for Naruto, thus forcing the council to rely on less skilful doctors to treat his mutilated right leg. Granted, the council did try to threaten Tsunade into treating Sasuke's injury by having the supposedly dead Naruto labeled as a traitor and not add his name to the memorial stone, but Tsunade threatened them that if they do so, she will label Sasuke as a traitor that indirectly almost caused the deaths of heirs from at least two major ninja clans and demand for his immediate execution regardless of how the cursed seal he had received from Orochimaru may had affected his thinking. Combined with Kakashi's testimony that Sasuke really cared for nothing else other than power and his revenge, the council could not even stop Tsunade from having a seal placed on Sasuke to ensure that leaving the village or using the cursed seal will hurt him horribly before finally killing him. Ever since that incident, the council realized that Tsunade is far more willing to be "tyrannically oppressive" in defending Naruto than Hiruzen was and that the only reason why they even succeeded in banishing Naruto in the first place was because she had more immediate priorities at the time, namely saving Choji and Neji from dying.

Speaking of the younger generation, the effect on them was the exact opposite of what the Civilian Council had been hoping for. Many of the Academy students heard of Naruto's great feats against Gaara during the Chunin exams thanks to the efforts of Konohamaru, Moegi and Udon. Iruka, Naruto's former sensei, also explained to his students that Naruto was not the demon but its container and was a hero who was abused all his life. The Rookie 11 didn't believe that Naruto was a demon also. How could a demon be so kind and cheerful, as well as helping many of the Rookies, such as Neji's belief of fate or helping Lee become a shinobi again.

As for the remaining members of Team Seven, Sakura was devastated that Naruto was dead. Though at first she disliked him but over the short time that they were a team he began to grow on her. It was also Naruto that Sakura realized that she was the weakest of the team during the Chunin Exams, and thus vowed to get stronger and make sure none of her friends ever died again. When Sasuke woke up two weeks later and heard about what transpired, he felt guilty of what he did, remembering the words Naruto said to him at the Valley of the End and also knowing the kind of life the blonde had in Konoha. When Tsunade came to hear his excuse for defecting to Orochimaru, she was surprised that Sasuke said it was of his own doing and will take full responsibility for the injuries of his former friends and the death of Naruto. Still not trusting him, Tsunade finally agreed to heal Sasuke's injuries as long as he ignores the civilian council. And finally Kakashi, the silver-haired man with his left eye hidden beneath his forehead protector was among the first to desperately search for Naruto but failed to find him despite using all the ninja-dogs he could summon to help. Ashamed of his own mistakes, the man went into isolation and depression and could no longer bring himself to look at the memorial stone which bore the names of his lost loved ones as he was sure that they were just as ashamed of him if not more so. Already many of his colleagues are disappointed or ashamed of him for teaching Sasuke his signature attack and used it against his own comrades.

Shikamaru, formerly one of Naruto's classmates and the chunin leader of the team that retrieved Sasuke, was ashamed that he had almost gotten three of his teammates killed and Naruto's death. Had it not been for his father's wisdom, his mother's almost-uncharacteristic show of motherly kindness, his best friend's encouragement and the moral support of a certain blond ninja from Sunagakure, the lazy-looking boy with narrow eyes and a spiky ponytail on top of his head would have resigned from his position as a chunin. Speaking about Shikamaru's best friend, Choji, the overweight boy with brown hair and swirls on his cheeks felt bad about Naruto's death and disrespect that the civlian council gave him as well and vowed to become stronger so that he and Shikamaru can find Naruto someday (since they believed that he was still alive) and apologize for not being strong or smart enough for him. Ino, a pale-blond girl with blue eyes, also felt bad for Naruto's memory being disrespected, since it was Naruto that helped repair her friendship with Sakura. Asuma, who knew quite a bit about the boy from his father, Sarutobi Hiruzen, was deeply ashamed with his own village, the same village his father died protecting, for dishonoring the boy's memory.

Kiba, upon realizing what had happened to Naruto, was tempted to immediately charge into the council chamber to call "those stupid retards" out for dishonoring his friend and rival who had done nothing wrong as Sasuke was the real traitor to both the village and Team Seven, not Naruto. The only reason why he didn't was because his mother, Inuzuka Tsume, already made that same statement. Shino, who was unavailable for that mission at the time, agreed with Kiba and regretted that he had been unable to help with the mission. As such, much like Shikamaru and Chuji, both boys swore to become stronger. Their third teammate, Hinata, was heartbroken by the death of Naruto or disappearance as she stated and would have fallen into suicidal depression had her teammates, her jonin instructor and even her elder cousin not encouraged her to become stronger so that she can one day find the boy whom she had always admired. Determined to find Naruto and finally tell him her feelings, she dedicated herself to her training in ways that even Neji's eccentric teammate, Rock Lee, and jonin instructor, Might Guy, found impressive. Kurenai, who knew about Hinata's crush towards Naruto, not that no one with a working pair of eyes other than Naruto did not know, was willing to help her genin become stronger and better as trackers so that they can find Naruto, if the boy was indeed still alive.

Speaking of Neji's team, the Hyuuga boy also believed that Naruto was still alive and was determined to find him to thank him for making see that a person's fate can indeed be changed for the better. Lee, whose continued ninja career had been saved thanks to Naruto who brought back Tsunade, the legendary medic-ninja, was equally determined to find Naruto to thank him for "rescuing his flames of youth". Tenten, while not directly involved with Naruto like her other teammates, was nevertheless willing to help them as Naruto was responsible for helping them, even if Neji did not want it at the time. Guy, who was grateful to Naruto for helping Neji let go of his obsession with fate and for helping Lee recover from an otherwise crippling injury which would have ended his ninja career, was all too happy to train anyone who wanted to help Naruto in any way they can despite the circumstances.

As for Jiraiya, the white-haired toad sage of Konohagakure, the middle-aged man quickly tried to locate Naruto by using the Toad Summoning contract that the boy shared with him but realized to his horror that the boy, while alive, somehow broke his contract with the toads. Unable to find out how or why exactly the boy did so, Jiraiya knew that he had failed his disciple but was determined to find Naruto.

It was also during that period when the people that Naruto had helped over his tragically short career as a genin of Konohagakure came to know about his death and many were less than pleased by it to say the least of how his memory was being honored. The Land of Waves, a land which suffered under the tyranny of Gatou Corporation until Team Seven helped Tazuna complete of the Great Naruto Bridge, would have cut ties with Konohagakure for banishing their hero had it not been for Tazuna lying about the ranking of the mission as well as the need for trade to both pay off the resulting debt and to recover their economy. The hidden ninja village of Takigakure, another village which Team Seven had helped, was shocked that the village that aided them during Suien's attack on the village to obtain its fabled Hero Water would actually dishonor the memory a loyal ninja of the village just because he crippled a traitor and what he had inside him, so much that Shibuki, the current leader of the village, quickly tried to find out why someone as inspiringly brave and noble as Naruto was dishonored in memory. The Land of Tea, especially the Wasabi family and their champion runner, Morino Idate, were also shocked that Naruto was unfairly disrespected. Angered by this, Idate would have hated ninjas like the time before he met Team Seven had it not been for the fact that his friend, Naruto, was a ninja himself albeit a rather unorthodox one. The Land of Spring, which was once known as the Land of Snow, would have cut ties with Konohagakure as well but Kazahana Koyuki, the land's daimyo, knew that she could not do so without sufficient proof that her people are better off without the village as their ally. Sunagakure too could not cut ties with Konohagakure as they needed the alliance due to their currently weakened state. The fact that Sunagakure was guilty of betraying Konohagakure during the chuunin exams that resulted in the death of the Third Hokage certainly did not give them any moral high ground regardless. However all these nations began to trade with each other and less with Konoha over time. They figured that they could at least hurt Konoha by giving them less goods and trading more with places that are friends with Naruto.

**Unknown Location Four Months After Naruto's Suppose Death**

A bandaged covered Naruto opened his eyes slowly. "W-where am I?" Naruto asked himself as he tried to get up. He winced in pain and finally noticed that he was covered in bandages and stitches on most part of his body. "What the hell?" Naruto said as the memories began to return and he remembered everything that had happened so far. He remembered the fight with Sasuke at the valley, and how the Uchiha impaled two Chidoris into his chest.

Then he realized he was on a bed in a bright room. "Where am I?" He asked.

"**You guess is as good as mine." **A voice inside his head replied.

"Kyuubi?" Naruto asked trying to figure out why the fox was talking to him of all times.

"**Yeah, yeah its me." **The fox replied before letting out a sigh. **"Man I'm beat. You have no idea how hard it is to heal all your wounds that you've obtained during that little skirmish." **The Kyuubi said.

"I see you two have woken up." An unfamiliar voice said.

Naruto craned his head to the right and saw within the darkness the silhouette of a man could be seen. In his right hand was a golden Khakkhara. He appeared to be wearing a white robe that went down to his knees and looked like he had horns sticking out of his head. But what really got Naruto's attention were his eyes. The eyes had a ripple-like pattern over the eyeballs closing in a small black dot and had a light purple color.

Naruto could feel the Kyuubi's eyes widened. **"I-it can't be." **He said in shock.

The man chuckled as he continued walking towards the bed. "It's good to see you too Kurama-kun."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. 'The Kyuubi has a name?' He thought before speaking, "Just who are you?" He asked.

Suddenly the man stopped chuckling and Naruto could sense the seriousness radiating off of him even though he couldn't see the man's face. "I am your past, while you are my future. We are one in the same." The man said as he finally stepped out of the shadows. It was then Naruto could see that this guy was really old, what with all the wrinkles on his face and how pure white his hair was too. The horns were actually part of his hair that just looked like horns. "My name is not important, but you can call me the Rikudou Sennin."

Naruto titled his head. "Who?" He asked confused.

'He felt Kyuubi or Kurama, bang around in his head. **"Baka! Show some respect to the god of ninjutsu!" **Kurama yelled.

Naruto gasped at the revelation and turned back towards the older man. "You founded ninjutsu? Wait how old are you then?" He asked.

The man nodded chuckled at the question. "Very old in fact. However now that you and I are reunited I can pass on my knowledge to you since you're my reincarnation. That is why I saved you when you were near death."

Naruto's eyes widened and then he smiled. "Wow, thank you." He said softly.

The Sage shrugged. "Well you should be thanking him actually since he's the one that found you." The Sage said.

Just as he said that a being came out of the wall. He wore nothing but green shorts. He was bald, had black and white skin and his entire eyes were lime-green as well. "I am Yujin." He said as he bowed at Naruto. Then he turned towards the sage. "The Konoha Council have labeled Naruto as KIA. The people of Konoha are celebrating his death."

"Dead, I'm not dead." Naruto said as he tried to get up but winced in pain again and was soon stopped by the Sage. "Where do you thing you're going?"

Naruto looked up at the older man. "I'm going back to Konoha, to show that I'm not dead and be with my friends." He said.

The Sage gave him a serious look and said, "Naruto, what makes you think that they will welcome your return?"

Naruto looked up at him confused. "What do you mean?" He asked.

Inside Naruto Kurama sighed. **"Naruto by now you should know that the village would rather have you dead then welcome you as a hero?"**

As if hearing Kurama Yujin nodded. "Naruto-sama the people of Konoha have been celebrating your death with parties for the past month, except for your friends, the Hokage and a few others. They even vandalized and ransacked your apartment already but the Hokage had the anbu arrest them. The council didn't even let your name be engraved on the memorial stone."

Naruto's mouth opened and then closed while he looked down. He felt tears threatening to come out but then he stopped himself and looked up at the others. "But you said that my friends and baachan are worried about me. Aren't they looking for me?"

Yujin looked at the Sage before back at Naruto, shaking his head. "They gave up after two months and Tsuande couldn't send anymore forces because the elders and civilian council overruled along with the fact that the village is still undermanned. Anyone who shows the bit of sympathy towards you is treated as a freak."

Naruto couldn't believe it; after everything he did for the village he is still hated? Worse of all his friends are being hated a scorn just for supporting him. The mere thought of it all made Naruto angry at how unfair the world is; that people are treated so wrongly just because of who they are or what they have inside of them. Realizing that he was still surrounded by two people Naruto looked up at the Sage, "So why am I here?" He asked.

The Sage sighed and summoned a chair for him to sit on. Once he was seated he spoke. "Long ago on my death bed I gathered my two sons to choose one of them as my successor. My oldest one had my eyes; my powerful chakra and spiritual energy while the youngest one had my body; my powerful will and physical energy. My oldest son wanted to use power to bring peace while my younger son wanted to use love to bring peace. I chose my youngest son, which his brother did not take to kindly. Thus a feud began to spark between them that was passed onto their clans, the Uchiha clan, founded by the older one, and the Senju clan that was founded by the younger one."

Naruto's eyes widened at this. "Y-your sons founded the Uchiha clan and the Senju clan, the ones who founded Konoha? And wait how are you still alive?"

Kurama nodded. **"Yes I would like to know that as well. I remember your last words to me and my brothers."**

The Sage nodded. "The room we are in has a different time speed then our world. Here time goes slowly then the outside world, which is how I survived. But my time is almost up and you need to take my place. For your other question they did indeed found those clans but because of their feud none of them brought true peace and thus my dream was ruined. Now I see that both of them were right; love does bring peace but with power it is possible. And you, being my descendant/reincarnation, can help me fulfill that role."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Me?"

The Sage nodded. "Due to the seal that was placed on you your Rinnegan has been blocked off so it won't work, However when I adjust the seal it will awaken, and I can train you in using them before I go."

Naruto narrowed his eyes, suspicious right now of him. "Why should I trust you? Let alone do what you say? How do I know that you don't intend to take over the world or something?"

The Sage chuckled before giving Naruto a serious stare. "Tell me Naruto-kun haven't you ever wanted to be loved instead of hate? Sure you made friends but do they really know you? I mean they technically only known you for just six months without putting in much effort in learning more about you. Also the very village that you swore to protect has all but now spit on your grave."

That got Naruto; he realized that his friends didn't really know him well or even bothered to ask about him. He didn't say anything, just looked down at the bed.

The Sage continued. "And what about other children out in the world? Many don't have parents to love them, are hated and scorn for many reasons never knowing what love or comfort is. Do you believe that is fair and is just? That something should be done about it?"

Naruto clenched his fists together; the man was right. Naruto felt like a great weight fell onto his shoulders and he had to do something about it. "The world is a cruel place Naruto-kun. Someone who knows what is right and what is wrong must do something about it. If not my children then you are the one to do it Naruto-kun." The Sage said as he raised his hand. "You are the one to bring peace to this world."

Naruto swallowed hard and thought long about all this. Finally with a determined look he stared at the Sage. "I'll do it." Naruto replied.

The Sage smiled at this and got up. "Very well, first we shall readjust the seal on your body so you can use your Rinnegan. When you are fully recovered I shall begin training you in all types of jutsu as well as with the Yin and Yang release. Then I will explain the history of everything to you. From this day forward, you shall be the next Sage of the Six Paths."

**So what do you all think? I'm sticking with this one and hopefully nothing will happen. Review.**


	2. Return

**Okay so a year has past so let's see how things are going. Enjoy and Review**

Outside the village of Konoha with sun going down were Naruto Uzumaki and Yujin, both of them standing on top of tree branches as they looked at the village. They both wore black cloaks with hoods covering their heads. Naruto wore a white Oni mask with horns on it but no mouth. The mask also had a large swirl on it starting from the mouth so it looked like a whirlpool. His hair had been dyed red but still retained its spikiness. As for his eyes; they were no longer the deep ocean blue eyes but now possessed the Rinnegan. Naruto had also gotten taller by a couple of inches so now he was even above his actual height that he was suppose to be at his age.

"It hasn't changed a bit." Naruto mumbled as he disappeared in a blink of an eye, followed by Yujin. Soon the two reappeared in an abandon alleyway where no one could see them. Naruto then took to the roof to get a better view of the village while Yujin remained where he was. Then he looked up at the Hokage monument, frowning when he looked at the Saindame's, the Yoidame's his father, and, "Tsunade-baachan?" Naruto said as he watched as people began to work on a fifth head that appeared to look like Tsunade's. 'Guess they finally decided to place her up there.' Naruto thought as he rejoined Yujin. "So now we head to the Uchiha compound correct?" Naruto asked.

Yujin nodded, "Yes Rikudou-sama said that the Uchiha somehow acquired the Naka tablet that contains all the information of his life. Retrieving it will greatly help our cause."

Naruto nod his head and searched for the compound with his eyes. When he found it he turned towards Yujin. "You go spy on what the Hokage is doing, and try to gather information from your clones. I shall retrieve the tablet." Naruto said.

Yujin nodded and disappeared while Naruto prepared to leave when he spotted someone walking by the alleyway. He realized that it was Hinata and she had white flowers in her hand. Her head was down and it appeared she was trying to hold in her tears. 'What is she doing?' Naruto thought as he disappeared into a portal and followed her.

A few minutes later Naruto arrived at the cemetery near the memorial stone. Hiding in the bushes he watched as Hinata placed the flowers near a tombstone. Naruto raised an eye as he watched her walk away with tears coming down her face. He didn't know why but for some reason he remembers her always following her and was the only girl who would never hit or yell at him. Deciding to see the name Naruto walked over towards the tombstone and took a look at it. His eyes widened as he realized that it was his tombstone but furthermore it was handmade, not in the way that they were usually made. The only possible solution could be that Hinata made it herself because the civilian council or shinobi forces didn't want to add Naruto to the memorial stone. 'Why would she do that?' Naruto wondered.

Inside his body Kurama snorted. **"Even with all the training that father gave you still don't know squat about a woman's feelings."**

Naruto got a tick mark. "What's that suppose to mean?"

Kurama sighed, **"It means she likes you Naruto-baka. Perhaps even loves you if she went all the way to make this tombstone for you, though I doubt she is convinced that you are truly dead."**

Naruto never thought about that. He realized that all his life he had been chasing after Sakura while ignoring everything and everyone else around him except when he was doing pranks. 'I've been such a fool' Naruto thought to himself as he got up and watched the path that Hinata took. "Hinata-chan, I will make up for my mistake." And with that he disappeared and headed towards the Uchiha compound.

**With Yujin**

Yujin possessed a special ability known as molecular manipulation. This ability allowed his to morph his body into and type of form he wanted and could even separate to avoid damage. He could also manipulate or fuse with objects that he came in contact, like a wall for example, which made him good for spying. But the best part was that he could separate his conscious as he did it.

Currently he was spying on a meeting in the Hokage's room. Present there was Tsunade, Jiraiya the clan heads, elders and civilian council and the Fire Daimyo, with the latter looking angry.

"I have noticed that the economy has gone down in not just Konoha but throughout the Fire Country. At first I had no idea what was the cause of all this…until I finally managed to get in contact with the Wave Daimyo, the Spring Daimyo, Tea Daimyo, and the Wind Daimyo, along with the leaders of Sunagakure and Takigakure. What I heard was most upsetting."

The Civilian Council was confused at what the Daimyo was talking about. But the Clan heads, elders and the two sannins knew exactly what he meant and knew this would not end so well.

"What is upsetting Daimyo-sama?" Sakiko Haruno, head of the civilian merchant guild, asked. "If it is something we have done then perhaps we can fix it."

The Daimyo glared at the woman hard, making her fidget under his gaze. "What I have learned that regarding the mission to retrieve Sasuke Uchiha, one of the members of the retrieval team was killed. But what greatly angered the leaders of these countries was that his name was not honored, he wasn't given a respectful tomb and furthermore even today the people of Konoha continue to spit his name in hatred. I refer to one Naruto Uzumaki."

"What does the demon brat have to do with this?" A fat civilian member asked in annoyance…but was silenced when he felt killing intent from the clan heads, Hokage, Jiraiya and even the Daimyo.

"Since your hatred of the boy blinds you from the outside world then allow me to explain it to you." The Daimyo said as he began listing off Naruto's deeds. "It was Naruto that helped free the people of Wave from Gato's cruel tyranny, they even named their bridge after him. It was Naruto who saved the Spring Country by placing Daimyo Koyuki back onto the throne. It was Naruto who helped the Wasabi family of Tea Country gain control over the economy there, as well as put a good impression to the Tea Daimyo. It was Naruto that helped the current leader of Takigakure survive the attempt by missing-nin on their village. And finally it was Naruto who not only stopped the Suna-jinchuriki from destroying Konoha, but also open the Wind Daimyo's eyes of his mistake of neglecting his country's village and helped the said jinchuriki change his view in life. In short it was Naruto who helped all these countries and in return these countries opened trade agreements with both Konoha and the Fire Country, greatly boosting our economy to even higher levels then the time of the Shodaime Hokage." He said as he glared at the council with fury. "And what do you do when the boy has died in doing his duty to his village in trying to stop a traitor from defecting the village? You spit on his name and dishonor his memory, going a so far as to not give him the honor of having his own tombstone."

Another civilian council stood up, trying to take the pressure off of them. "I still fail to see of what the problem is. We are still trading with these nations and so this can't be our fault for mocking a demon brat."

The Daimyo growled, growled, at the council member. "What you say is true but ever since this knowledge was made public last year these nations have lowered trading with us by a huge amount, instead trading with each other since they all hold Naruto in high regards. And a week ago I received a letter from all of these Kages and Daimyos, threatening to cut off trade with us completely unless the following demands were met. Speaking of which I have read them and improved of them." He then took out a scroll and handed it to Tsunade who began reading it. First her eyes widened at the contents but then narrowed in approval. When she was done reading she looked up at the Daimyo, waiting for permission to speak. When he did Tsunade spoke towards the council.

"The demands of these nations are reasonable. One is that a tombstone shall be built for Naruto as well as his name engraved on the memorial stone. Two Sasuke Uchiha shall be placed on house arrest and given D-missions for the remainder of the year and after that shall be constant surveillance of anbu while in the village and when on missions shall be watched by Kakashi. Three all belongings of Sasuke's clan, minus the compound, 40% of the clan's money, jutsu scrolls shall be confiscated and sold to replenish the drop of money in the village's income. Four, since it was the civilian council who openly dishonored Naruto's name, a large substantial amount from each other their savings shall be taken to repay the people within the village who openly supported Naruto and honored his memory due to the abuse that they had received from the villagers."

Automatically the civilian council roared in disapproval but a single punch of Tsunade's fist into the desk effectively shut them up. Once everyone was silent Tsuande continued. "Five, the ninjas that respected Naruto and honored his memories shall be the only ones that will be given missions from these countries, as they were the only ones who did not hate Naruto. Six all money gained from trading with these specific nations or from missions shall be added to the shinobi account…not the civilian's one. Seven the money gained from the civilian's business shall be taken to replenish the Fire Country's economy until it returns back to a stable state."

Sakiko stood up automatically and screeched. "But Hokage-sama that will bankrupt us! We'll lose our business for sure at that rate!"

Tsunade shrugged. "Not my problem, you guys had it coming. Oh and speaking of you guys, the eighth and final demand of these nations is that the Civilian council, for their public disrespect towards Naruto over the years and even after his death, is immediately disbanded while all members are sent with a one-on-one session with Ibiki, since there has been many suspicious activities revolving around the civilian council in shinobi affairs. ANBU take them away." Tsunade said and soon the Hokage's ANBU appeared and forcibly escorted the former civilian council out of the room, much to the amusement of the shinobi council. Longed had they had to deal with the annoyance and stupidity of the civilian council and now they were finally freed of them.

Once all of the civilians were gone the Fire Daimyo looked at Tsunade. "I trust that these changes will be made quickly?" The Daimyo asked.

Tsunade nodded as she handed the scroll to Shizune to deliver them to the rightful departments. "Yes I shall be sure that they are carried out without hesitation. And if it pleases you, we received permission from Sasuke Uchiha, quite a surprise there, in investigating his compound for anything that might be suspicious. The latest team sent there was over three hours ago. I'm expecting a report from them soon."

**With Naruto That Night**

At the said compound, the place, once filled with jonin and chunin rank ninjas investigating the compound, was now eerie quiet in the dead of night…and the streets were covered with recently killed said ninjas. If one was to inspect the corpses carefully, they could see that their necks had been snapped in two or they were strangled to death judging the finger marks on their throats.

Laying the last dead ninja on the ground softly, Naruto stood up and looked around the area for any more signs of life. 'Good no one else is here.' Naruto thought as he continued towards the Uchiha Head house. As he stood right outside the door, Naruto used his Rinnegan to see if anyone was inside by looking for chakra signatures. He saw no one in there so he entered the house and began looking around for any signs of a secret door. He turned everything over; the sofa, the shelves, the closet even the tables. He kept searching until he finally found a door underneath the living room coffee table. "Bingo" Naruto said as he opened the door revealing stairs going downward. Walking casually Naruto made his way down with a flashlight in his hand. A few minutes later Naruto arrived to a large room with the lights off. When Naruto turned the lights on he saw that directly in front of him was the tablet of the Sage of the Six Paths standing on a pedestal.

"At last" Naruto murmured as he walked up to it and began reading its contents. True what he read he already knew from what he heard from the Sage himself. But still allowing this type of information to fall into Konoha's hands was unacceptable. So with a wave of his hand the tablet disappeared. With that done he headed back up towards the house.

Just as he exited the house several kunai shot towards Naruto. In retaliation Naruto merely allowed them to phase through him using Mikado (God's Gate). Then once he was clear of the attack, Naruto lunged towards the person who fired them…who happened to be Kakashi. Despite seeing his former sensei, Naruto did not slow down his attack as he tried to land a punch in Kakashi's face. However the silver hair jonin managed to dodge it by kneeling down, and followed it up with a lunge with his kunai at Naruto. But this time Naruto was gone in a flash, shocking Kakashi greatly. 'That was almost like Hirashin!' The silver hair jonin thought as he jumped back before his opponent could take a swing at him. When he missed the mask man jumped back a few feet and landed safely away from Kakashi.

But before Naruto or Kakashi could do anything, the entire area was surrounded by dozens of ANBU being led by Jiraiya. "Jiraiya-sama! What are you doing here?" Kakashi asked.

Jiraiya smirked, "Probably the same reason you're here, you saw all of the dead ninjas in the area. I got suspicious so I brought some friends with me." Then he frowned as he looked at the mask man. "Now mind telling us who you are?"

Naruto chuckled underneath his mask as he removed his hood, revealing his red hair to everyone. "I go by many names…I've lived for a long time in this world and thus earned titles that you wouldn't even know. But I guess you can call me….Sadahiko Uzumaki."

Jiraiya and Kakashi's eyes widened. The former had heard the name in history books during his times as a genin and from his sensei and Kushina while the latter had only heard the man from his sensei's wife who was from the same clan. The man standing before them was the strongest Uzumaki in history, the clan head of the Uzumaki clan during the time of the Shodaime and Madara's time…in fact he was probably the only person who was stronger than those two combined.

"Impossible! He's suppose to be dead! Even if you are him you barely look like you're out of your twenties." Jiraiya said as he looked at the supposedly hundred year old man.

The mask man chuckled underneath his mask. "Oh Jiraiya, you know us Uzumaki, we have such long lives. After all how long do you suppose my sister Mito Uzumaki lived before passing on her burden to Kushina Uzumaki?" Then he began to walk away. "Now if you don't mind I need to be going now…I have big plans that I need to see too." And then took off towards the walls of the village.

"Don't let him escape!" Jiraiya yelled to the anbu as he headed off after the mask man. When the anbu made movement to follow him the spots they were standing on began to glow and suddenly golden chains popped from the ground and roofs towards the anbu. While a few managed to escape the chain's grasp the others were quickly captured and held down by the golden chains wrapped around their bodies.

'Damn it!' Jiraiya thought to himself as he saw that already half of the anbu that he brought with him were already subdued. However he had to focus on the mask intruder. Two anbu managed to get in front of Naruto and tried to stop him by throwing several shuriken, but they just went right through Naruto who continued on heading towards them. Seeing how that they might have to fight him in close combat, they drew their ninjato and prepared for a fight…when Naruto suddenly appeared before them, grabbed their faces and slammed them hard against the ground, creating small spider cracks in the ground.

As Naruto kept running through the compound towards the wall, a shadow loomed over him. He looked up he saw Kakashi with his Chidori diving towards Naruto. However Naruto simply used his space-time ninjutsu to allow Kakashi to pass through him. Then once he was fully cleared of Kakashi's form, Naruto slammed his hand on Kakashi's chest. When he moved his hand he revealed a seal now on Kakashi's chest, and it glowed automatically and suddenly Kakashi was frozen in place due to the seal's affect.

While Kakashi was dealt with Naruto continued running towards the wall when he was soon surrounded by the remaining anbu and Jiraiya. Naruto showed no signs of fear as he was surrounded by elite shinobi of Konoha.

"You might as well give up now buddy. There is no place for you to escape now." Jiraiya said as he had a rasengan formed into his hand.

Naruto smirked and stood straight, confusing some of the Konoha-nin. "I do not think so." Naruto said as he suddenly poof into smoke, shocking everyone.

'He was a shadow clone?' Jiraiya thought, shocked completely as he and the anbu looked around for any sign of the intruder. When they couldn't find him they decided to head back, help Kakashi and the others and inform Tsuande what happened. Unknown to them, Naruto had already teleported away from the compound and was now watching the whole thing from on top of the wall surrounding Konoha. With a smirk behind his mask and disappeared now that his goal was complete.

**In The Ruins of an Unknown Village**

Naruto soon reappeared inside a large mansion with the tablet in his hands. As Yujin was coming out of the ground Naruto placed the tablet on a table and then performed a few hand signs. A small barrier surrounded the tablet and then it disappeared. "Phase One is done, now it is time for Phase Two. What have your clones found Yujin?" Naruto asked.

Yujin closed his eyes for a few seconds before opening them. "They found several candidates with unique abilities, especially one of them."

"Profiles?" Naruto asked as he removed his mask. Then he reached outwards and a scroll flew into his hand.

"Their backgrounds are just the kind we need and I'm sure they will follow you without fail." Yujin replied as Naruto opened the scroll and began reading it.

"Good" Naruto said as his Rinnegan was reading the scroll. "Tell me their locations and I'll head to greet some of them while you head to meet the others."

"Understood Naruto-sama." Yujin said as he put a scroll on the table. Just as he prepared to leave he asked, "What shall we call ourselves by the way?"

Naruto looked at him with a smile. "We shall call ourselves…Nichiyo!"

**Well what do you think? Pretty good huh? Review**

**Wacko12**


	3. Planning

**So now we get to meet some of Naruto's members of his Nichiyo group and how Naruto plans to bring the Sage of the Six Path's vision to a reality. Enjoy and Review**

**Somewhere in the Fire Country**

A masked Naruto and a hooded Yujin watched as a young man, perhaps in his late teens, was walking through a small village talking to people. He had fair skin, smooth black hair that went down to his neck. But what really caught people's attention were the black and white eyes he had. The right eye's iris had two layers, like a circle around a circle. The outer layer was black while the inner layer was white with the pupil being black. The left eye was the same however was vice versa, including the pupil which was white. "Is that the guy Yujin?" Naruto asked.

Yujin nodded. "Yes that is Gaoh, the descendent of the Sage of Enlightenment, Rikuduo-sama's greatest pupil and the strongest second only to the great sage. Thanks to his kekkei genkai he possesses the unique ability of Gushkin-banda, Path of Gold Alignment. From what I've learned he knows about his lineage and the Rinnegan. His unique abilities allow him to reach true perfection and control the rift between Order and Chaos. He also possesses a large fortune from doing mercenary missions as well as a spy network, though not as good as Jiraiya's. With the money and your and his networks, it could help us with beginning our plans."

"Then it will be easy to get him to join us." Naruto said as he walked forwards towards the older man. The man known as Gaoh spotted him just as the people who he was talking to left. "Yes can I help you?" He asked kindly.

Naruto pulled down his hood, revealing his red spiky hair but kept his mask on. "My name is Sadahiko Uzumaki. As for why I am here it's because…" He paused as he showed his Rinnegan. "I've come to recruit you, descendant of the Sage of Enlightenment."

Gaoh's eyes widened at what he saw and heard. Then he narrowed his eyes and looked around. "Let us talk somewhere else." He said.

Naruto nodded and followed the man with Yujin covering the rear. They soon were on the outskirts of the village where they found some rocks to sit on. Once they were all seated Gaoh stared at Naruto for a long time before asking, "So are you really the Rikuduo Sennin's' reincarnation?"

Naruto nodded and removed his mask a little, showing a small portion of his face. He showed his Rinnegan on his right eye. "Indeed I am, which is why I sought you out. Your past life was the pupil of my past life. As such we should work together to bring true peace to the world."

"True peace?" Gaoh asked with an eyebrow raised.

"To put it simply my sons in my past life have failed to bring peace to this world, and not just because they fought amongst each other but also both of their ideas were correct." Naruto said as he watched Gaoh nod his head. "Love can bring peace but without power it is meaningless, which is why I need you along with several other people. You see there is a tale about the Sage of the Six Paths when he faced the Juubi. During his battle against the Jubi the Sage of the Six Paths created a mighty giant known as the Sosaku Kyojin (Creation Titan) to battle the Juubi. With giant's help the Sage defeated the beast, allowing the Sage to imprison the demon inside his own body. But the giant was so powerful that even the Sage believed that it was too powerful to be left in this world. Using his Creation of All Things, the Sage separated the giant's power and soul into twenty titans and scattered them across the world into random humans who could be only located by the Sage himself. Then he sealed the body into a different dimension of his own design. Finally its mind was sent up into space to float around the planet and to safeguard the moon, in which the Jubi's body was sealed into."

Then he held out a hand towards Gaoh. "With us working together we can recreate the Sosaku Kyojin and we shall be unstoppable. We can the change the world in our image, bring about true peace and bring back those of pure heart back to life. Besides, isn't there anyone that you could bring back if you could?" Naruto asked.

He knew that got Gaoh thinking pretty hard about all this. A few seconds later he looked up and nodded and shook Naruto's hand. "Let us create peace together."

"Excellent" Naruto said and took out a scroll and handed it to Gaoh. "These are a list of the people that I've chosen to join us along with instructions of what you should do. One of the candidates I believe you're familiar with. Also Yujin shall join you in recruiting them. I however shall act in the shadows while you act as the leader in the light. I still have other work to do so I shall count on you to get everything organized and in nine to ten years we shall begin our mission." And with that Naruto disappeared in a flash leaving Gaoh and Yujin alone.

**A Small Village in the Fire Country**

Inside a small village a couple of miles away from Konoha, a man in his early-twenties could be seen walking down the street back to his home. He had black hair that went down to his neck and had black eyes. He wore a simple short sleeve black shirt and long black pants with a kunai holder strapped to his leg, a sign that he is a ninja but he had no headband on. His eyes moved side to side whenever he passed by someone. He only stopped keeping his guard up when he got home, which was a two floor house at the edge of town.

He unlocked his door and went inside while the lights were still out. Just as he was about to lock the door behind him, with great speed he pulled out a shuriken and a kunai, and threw the former somewhere in the darkness. A few seconds later there was a sound of metal hitting the wall and then there was movement in the darkness. The black hair man switched on the lights while staying in a defensive position.

When the lights came on, they revealed that it was a masked Naruto sitting on a chair. He wore his black cloak that went down to his heels, a dark grey chest pad with a shoulder pad of the same color on the left shoulder on top of it. And underneath it was an orange belt on the waist. Also he had long blue ninja pants with bandages wrapped around from the heels to the knees. He finally wore fingerless black gloves with arm bandages strapped to his arms. Another trait is that without his hood, his head showed that his hair had grown longer down to his back and was now tied into a ponytail. "I see that despite having left the village seventeen years ago you haven't lost your touch Shinju Uchiha the Dreamer, younger brother of Yasashi Uchiha who was one of the few to achieve the next stage of the Sharingan during his time in the Third Shinobi World War, great-great grandson of Madara Uchiha."

Shinju's eyes widened when the mask man said that, then they narrowed while he activating his sharingan in the process. "How do you know all that?" He asked with venom in his voice.

Naruto smirked underneath his mask as he replied. "I've done my research. I know that twenty-five years ago you and your brother's team were put together in a joint mission in infiltrating one of Iwa's bases. But you were sold out by an unknown source and were attacked by multiple Iwa jonins. Yours and your brother's team were wiped out, except for you and your brother because they wanted the sharingan. However you two managed to escape but as a last resort Iwa poisoned your brother who died the next day. The tragic loss caused you to activate your Mangekyo Sharingan, which gave you the unique power known as the Shinmu (God's Dream). With that genjutsu ability as well as your mastery of using every type of cloning techniques made you one of the greatest Uchiha ever, along with Shisui Uchiha, Itachi Uchiha and your great-great grandfather Madara Uchiha. But when you discovered that the current clan leader was making deals with Danzo Shimura of Root. You tried to make him change his mind but he would not listen, so instead he tried to have you killed on a mission, making it look like an accident. Instead you used Shinmu to trick them into believing that they killed you, but instead that allowed you to live outside of the village and lay low for the next few years. Am I right?"

Shinju said nothing but prepared for a fight. However Naruto merely sighed and spoke. "Relax I am not here to fight you. I'm here to offer you a deal."

Shinju raised an eyebrow and slightly relaxed his stance but only slightly. "What kind of deal?"

Naruto reached into his cloak prompting Shinju to flinch thinking it was an attack. Instead Naruto pulled out a small jar filled with green water…with two sharingans inside of it. However they did not have the three tomeos that all sharingan had when activated. Instead a black ring surrounded the pupil. Automatically Shinju activated his Mangekyo Sharingan, which had a black background and a red pattern, which took the shape of a red star around his black pupil. "Those are…"

"The Mangekyo Sharingan of your brother, Yasashi Uchiha." Naruto said as he set the jar on the table. "I managed to recover it from the Uchiha cemetery when I was there a month ago. Surprisingly some of Danzo's men, Root, were there as well, most likely salvaging for any useful sharingan for their master."

That statement confused Shinju. "What do you mean by that? What does he want with the sharingan?" He asked.

Naruto pulled out a file and tossed it towards Shinju, who caught it. Looking at Naruto suspiciously, Shinju began reading the contents of the file. As he read his eyes widened and then narrowed in anger. "He's been implanting them into himself?" Shinju asked in barely controlled rage. Naruto nodded, confirming his question. "So what do you want with me?" Shinju asked.

"Simple" Naruto said as he got up. "One you could become a great asset to my cause and the other is that you're a threat." Shinju raised an eyebrow at that. "Simply put you and your brother are the only ones beside myself and Madara who have read the tablet in the Naka shrine fully, and thus understand the history of the Sage of the Six Paths. If anyone else got your hands on you and made you tell them what it said, it could compromise my goal." He said as he narrowed his eyes at the older man. "…However, if you assist me with my plan, then you could change everything. Think about it…your clan…your brother…everyone that you've lost can be returned to you."

Shinju was stunned by all of this; could it really be possible? His mind went back to his clan in Konoha, how once everyone was happy and enjoyed life, instead of just trying to gain power. He remembered his brother and how the two dreamed of one day becoming shinobi of Konoha and protecting the village and their clan. If what this person spoke was true then this would be Shunju's only chance of doing so. Before he could say anything the hooded man stood up and put the jar of his brother's eyes back into his cloak and proceeded to walk out of the door. Shinju didn't even try to stop him, the revelation that he learned to do anything. Just as Naruto was passing by Shinju, he whispered, "In a few months you shall be approached by someone to join a group. At that time, your decision must be made." And with that he walked out of the door and disappeared into the night.

**Somewhere in the Land of Water**

Deep within an abandon building the sound of a man screaming as numerous knives impale him could be heard. Inside one of the main rooms of the building there were the bodies of several missing-nin, stab wounds in them. In the center was a man wearing a Kiri-anbu uniform with several kunai sticking into his chest. Standing above him was his killer.

The killer was a man in his mid-twenties named Etsuo Anagura, a veteran of the civil war and was a prominent candidate for the next generation of the Seven Swordsmen. He had tan skin, red eyes and spiky red hair that were shaved a little on the sides. He wore the standard Kiri-anbu uniform and his headband was around his forehead. Finally he had a katana in his hand. Etsuo had a complicated past; his mother came from another country, another village, that was destroyed during the Third Shinobi World War. She had settled in Kirigakure where she met Etsuo's father. A few years later they married and Etsuo was born. But when Etsuo reached the age of ten, Yagura had become the Mizukage and soon he began the bloodline purges, killing all Kekkei Genkai users and anyone who supported them, including Etsuo's own mother. But Etsuo's father, who was in the high ranks of Yagura's army, had killed his own wife in a sense of loyalty to the Mizukage. Unfortunately for him, it was that even that prompted Ekijo to join to resistance in order to avenge his mother. But because of his father's rank Ekijo was met with a lot of distrust from the rebels since his father was responsible for so many bloodline users death. Still that did not stop Etsuo from doing his duty in trying to stop the Yondaime Mizukage.

However because of his father he became the perfect target for a high ranked anbu captain to use as a scapegoat so he could sell his plans to Kiri's enemies. The said captain was an honored person during his time in the civil war as he fought against Yagura's reign. No would suspect him of selling out Kirigakure's secrets in order to make more of a profit in the world. Of course when an investigation began the captain managed to leak info that it was Etsuo who was selling the information.

Etsuo tried to clear his name, but the evidence that was put against him was to great and forced the man to flee or else be killed by his own comrades. After a bloody trail of finding out who set him up, he was already cast as an S-rank missing-nin due to his skills with a sword and large chakra reserves. The next year he spent his time hunting down the captain's subordinates in order to track down the captain. And at last he did and with a taste for vengeance he killed every single one of the captain's associates before finally taking his vengeance on the captain once and for all.

'But was it worth it?' Etsuo thought to himself as he looked at all the bodies. 'What is there for me now? I've killed so many of my own comrades and for what? Revenge? Hatred? Everything I worked for is gone.' Slowly he raised his sword to the side of his neck, intending to end it all…when he suddenly heard footsteps. Instincts going up Ekijo stopped his suicide move and got into a battle stance. "Whose there?" Ekijo asked.

Hiding only his upper part, Naruto stuck to the shadows while examining the man before him. He had read the files given to him by Yujin and he couldn't help but feel a kinship to this red head. With Shinju, Naruto only met with the Uchiha in person because as he said before, the Sharingan user could become a threat to his plans and thus needed him under his control.

But Etsuo…Etsuo was different. He was someone that Naruto could relate too. He had a childhood that was destroyed by the adults, who hated him for something that was beyond his control. He strove to be recognized by the people he swore to protect and when he finally had recognition, he was betrayed, hunted and hated even more. And now like Naruto, had no one to rely on, nowhere to go, and that is why Naruto took such an interest in him; because this man was just like him.

"You need not worry yourself Etsuo." Naruto said in a calm voice while keeping his face hidden in the shadows. "I have watched you and your deeds to be respected by your comrades…only to watch as they discarded you because of your heritage…one you couldn't escape from. But now…now I shall free you from this world of betrayal, hatred and sorrow."

Etsuo was caught off by that but still remained in his stance in case of an attack. "Your voice…sounds of someone younger then me, perhaps a child…yet you speak words of wisdom." He murmured. "Who are you and what do you want with me?"

While staying in the shadows Naruto revealed his Rinnegan, which stood out from the darkness so Etsuo could see it. When the former Kiri-nin laid his eyes on it he let out a gasp. "The Rinnegan…" He murmured, remembering the stories his mother told him when he was little.

"Ah so you have heard of the legendary dojutsu, as I expected." Naruto said. "And as to who I am…my name is Sadahiko Uzumaki…and I wish to recruit you…Etsuo Anagura, son of Nori Uzumaki."

The revelation made Etsuo drop his guard completely and his eyes widened in shock. But just as they did, he narrowed his eyebrows. "Impossible…Sadahiko is supposed to be dead. Who are you? Show yourself."

"Very well" Naruto said as he took off his mask and walked out into the light. Once he was out in the light his scarred face and red spiky hair came into Etsuo's view, said man raised an eyebrow, not expecting the mysterious newcomer to look like this. "So you've showed me your face. Still doesn't prove that you are who you say you are." Etsuou remarked.

Naruto smirked. "Perhaps this will convince you." And suddenly a large sword appeared next to him. The grip was made for two hands and had a golden guard with writings on it and at the center was a golden skull The blade was large, flat blade, taking the shape of a pure white and black double-edge bladed broadsword "Do you know what this is?" Naruto asked as he grabbed the sword's handle and picked it up with ease.

Etsuo's jaw nearly dropped to the ground as he looked at the deadly yet beautiful blade. "T-t-the Tsurugiha (Wings of the Sword), a sword said to be forged by the Rikudou Sennin."

"Indeed" Naruto said as he waved the blade around easily and with little effort. "It was my first and personal sword when I found it buried deep within my former country. For those that are deemed worthy, it is as light as a stick. But against enemies, the blade has the strength of a hundred swords." Then he tossed it towards Etsuo, causing the blade to impale into the ground right in front of the swordsman. "And now I give it to you, as I sign of faith."

Being skeptical Etsuo stared at the man claiming himself to be Sadahiko before looking back at the sword in front of him. Moving slowly he reached out towards the grip and wrapped his fingers around it. And the moment he did he could feel the power of the blade coursing through him; it was incredible. It was almost as if the blade was accepting him as his new master. With that in mind, Etsuo felt newfound confidence build up in him he lifted the blade up and swung it around a couple of times just to get a good feel.

Naruto watched as Etsuo got a feel for his new weapon. Then he said, "Perhaps now you can listen in on my plans to create a better world; one without betrayal and sides. Are you interested?"

**Konoha Hokage Mansion**

Tsunade sighed as she finally got the last of the paperwork done. It had been a month since the Daimyo came over and Tsunade was currently looking over the reports that Ibiki sent him after interrogating the former Civilian Council members. Apparently the civilian council had caused a lot of damage to the economy of the village as well as damaging the education of the shinobi academy. Tsunade was wondering how the hell her sensei, the Sandaime, allowed all of this to happened, letting the civilian council take so much power.

As she was looking through some paper there was a knock at her door. Without looking up Tsunade knew that coming in was Shizune. "Tsunade-sama, Kakashi and Jiraiya-sama are here with there report about the Uchiha compound."

"Send them in" Tsunade said as she put the documents down. A few seconds later Shizune came back in followed by Kakashi and Jiraiya, both men with grim expressions on their faces.

Once they were all standing before Tsuande the Hokage said, "Report of what happened that night at the Uchiha Compound."

Kakashi spoke first. "I was heading towards the compound to get an update on the search when I noticed that the two chunin guarding the entrance to the compound were dead, both killed by strangle. When I went in I saw that all the other ninjas there were killed in a similar fashion, while a few seemed to have no sign of any fatal attacks whatsoever. I was about send one of my summons to warn you but then I spotted the infiltrator coming out of the clan head's house. A mask hid his face and a hood covered his head. Wasting no time at all I tried to subdue him but he was able to use space-time ninjutsu to avoid my attacks."

Tsunade raised an eyebrow. "Can you describe the technique?"

Kakashi shrugged. "One technique seemed to allow him the phase through solid objects as well as avoid attacks. Another one was similar to the Yondaime's Hirashin but without the kunai or seals to make it worked."

Tsunade's eyes widened before looking at Jiraiya, who merely nodded thus confirming what Kakashi said. "I see and were you able to identify him?" The Hokage asked.

Kakashi paused for a moment before replying. "Like I said, his face was hidden by a mask but he did give us his name. He said…he said his name was Sadahiko Uzumaki."

If possible Tsunade's eyes widened more and her jaw hit the ground. "Sadahiko Uzumaki? My grandmother's older brother?" She asked. She hadn't really known her great uncle but she had seen him when she was little in Uzushiogakure and heard stories of him from her grandmother. Sadahiko was said to be both cunning and powerful in the ninjutsu, kenjutsu and fuinjutsu. In fact it was Sadahiko that taught Hashirama how to control the bijuu with his Mokuton abilities.

Jiraiya shrugged. "Apparently, but he looked a lot younger then he should be despite the fact that we didn't see his face. What do you know about him hime?"

Tsunade sighed and replied, "From what I know about him was that he was a prodigy, though he apparently hated the word. So far he's the only known person who took command of their clan at the age of fifteeen. Though he fought alongside the Senju clan due to our relations he was also friendly with the Uchiha clan, in fact my grandmother told me that it was he who watched over the signing of the two clans. Sadahiko was very skilled too and I was told that he took my grandfather, grandmother and Madara on a training trip, training them to the point that they were able to do thing that history says they were able to do. He was very strong too, stronger then my grandfather and Madara. My grandmother backed this up when she told me of when four clans tried to attack the Uzumaki's island Sadahiko, at the age of nine personally fought against all four clans and single-handely slaughtered them all down to the last man. A few years later he fought against both Hashirama and Madara in a 'friendly spar' which resulted in leaving both my grandfather and Madara half dead."

The others were all shocked by this piece of information. To be able to take on four clans alone at such a young age was incredible. Not only that Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha were the most powerful ninjas of their time and perhaps even now. For someone to give them such a fight leaving them near death was unbelievable. And the thought that he was still alive and was planning something was not a good one. "So what now Tsunade-sama?" Kakashi asked.

Tsunade sighed, leaned back and cleared the hair in front of her face. "I'll have to fill in the council of this development. Best chance is that they'll want to place him in the Bingo Books since he killed so many of our ninjas. However we will have to be careful when, if, we ever see him. He is a dangerous man and I rather not lose more ninjas to him. Dismissed."

**Ruins of a Village**

Back in his underground base, Naruto was preparing himself for a long journey. He was sealing all of his weapons, supplies, and other ninja gear into various scrolls that he kept inside his pocket dimension. He replaced his Oni mask with a red and black with three eyeholes, two in the usual spot while one was on the forehead. The mask also had no mouth at all either.

Soon the ground behind Naruto began to shift and rising from it was Yujin, with his cloak still on. "How is everything going?" Naruto asked without turning around.

"Gaoh-san has already found two of the candidates and they have agreed to join us. Also as you commanded I've begun constructing most of the hideouts that you pointed out. However despite the combine ryo we put together we are still low on what we need. Then there is the problem of Akatsuki, they'll get in the way of Rikudou-sama's plans if they continue chasing after the bijuu. What should we do?" Yujin asked.

Naruto smirked underneath his mask as he pulled his hood up. "While you assist Gaoh with the recruitment and creation of our new organization, I shall begin thinning out any threats to our goal." He said as he began walking out of the room. "Inform me when Gaoh has finished recruiting and begins taking mercenary jobs in order to boost the organization's treasury." Then he paused as he looked at Yujin. "The next few years will be interesting." And with that he disappeared.

**Well what do you think? Sorry it took so long. Please give lots of Reviews.**


	4. Two Years Later

**So now we see how what Naruto has been doing so far. Enjoy and Review**

**Somewhere in the Lad of Fire (Two Years Later)**

Kowagatte the Star Thrower, an A-rank missing-nin of Takigakure, was busy running for his life. Three hours ago he and his group of missing-nin followers were enjoying some food after their last job when two of their numbers were suddenly killed. One by one the rest were all killed until it was only Kowagatte did the killer revealed himself before the ninja. Wearing nothing but a black cloak with a hood over his head and a red and black mask covering his face, it was none other then Zen, the Shibo no Shisha (Herald of Death), an S-rank ninja who appeared three years ago. He had made a name for himself by killing B to A-rank missing-nin and the occasional S-rank, along with other people who were causing problems. Everyone talked about how he just appeared out of nowhere and would quickly and without mercy kill his targets, which led to the current situation as he was now after Kowagatte.

Said ninja turned around to see if he was still being followed. And sure enough he was; Zen was right behind him and catching up. Seeing as he had no choice Kowagatte prepared to us his signature move in hopes of killing him, or at least slowing him down. Digging into his ninja packs, he pulled out six shuriken, three in each hand, and they all had ninja wire tied to them. With great agility, Kowagatte threw all six of them straight towards Zen. Then, controlling them with the wire, he had the shuriken go around trees before surrounding Zen and before the mask-nin could react, they wrapped around his body, with Kowagatte pulling the wire thus making it tighter around Zen. "How do you like my Star Ensnarement Zen? Well get ready because here comes the finishing move!" The ninja shouted as he formed a hand sign. Zen looked down at each shuriken and noticed that they all had an explosive tag attached to them. Soon all the tags went off and engulfing the mask man in a large explosion.

Kowagatte had a smirk on his face as he believed that he had killed the mask man. But when the smoke cleared and there was no body, or at least a few parts it, to be seen his eyes widened in shock. But before he could even move a hand impaled through his chest right where his heart was, causing blood to fly everywhere.

Naruto smirked as he moved his hand out of the man's body, allowing it to drop to the ground. Despite the man being a few years older then him and also had more experience, Naruto was kind of disappointed that he didn't put up much of a fight. He had been hunting down missing-nin for the past two years, gaining their bounties from their respective villages or others that wanted them dead. The hard part wasn't killing them really, but to find them. Since Naruto had ordered Yujin to assist Gaoh with building Nichiyo, he wasn't able to get much info on his target's location without the scout. True now and then Yujin would send a clone to Naruto to update him on recent events but it took a lot out of Yujin to create those molecular clones.

However he did learn that a lot had changed in the past two years. From Naruto had learned Konoha is somewhat recovering after the economic depression that they went through due to the breaking of every treaty with every ally they had thanks to Naruto. But from Yujin had gathered, the other nations still trade with them because they knew that Naruto would not want Konoha to suffer just not as much. That and some of them, like Suna and Wave still needed to recuperate from their economic depression. And speaking of Konoha, Naruto had Yujin keeping tabs inside the village as well. He learned that the civilians or the former civilian council was complaining and voicing their desire to be reestablish since they thought it was unjust that the civilians had no voice…but were constantly reminded that Konoha was a shinobi village and so the villagers really had no say in what the Hokage does. Speaking of which, Tsunade had done a full investigation of the shinobi academy and did a complete change of the curriculum. Now it was more focus on preparing kids to become real ninjas. Apparently she was quite determine to make sure that Konoha still appeared as the strongest village, with the force to back up the claim.

Yujin also had been spying on Danzo as well. So far he had kept silent, now and then staying informed of what his spies report from the other villages and even still stays in contact with Orochimaru and other less unhealthy people, know doubt for his own ambitious. Along with that Yujin discovered the missions that Root took against both Hiruzen and Tsunade's orders and if exposed could cause a lot of trouble for Konoha. But that was an issue for another time to worry about. If Naruto ever believed that Danzo was going to cause some major issues anytime soon, then he could easily keep the old warhawk on a leash by threatening to expose his little 'secrets' to Tsunade and Sasuke.

Speaking of Sasuke, Naruto also had Yujin keeping tabs on Itachi and the rest of Akatsuki. Naruto knew that they had already captured the hosts of the five-tails and the seven-tails, which only left seven more including himself. He knew that he was letting those two suffer trapped inside the Gedo Mazou but it was a necessary sacrifice, which Naruto would make up to them when the plan was complete. The latest intel Naruto had gathered was that two of their members were heading towards Suna, most likely to capture Gaara who also became Kazekage. From what he knew they were still a week away from the village so that gave Naruto enough time to plan out what he would do. First he had to take this body back to Taki and claim the bounty.

Walking towards it Naruto bent down and laid his hand against the body and without even blinking, the body of the former Taki-nin was absorbed into Naruto's pocket dimension. As he got up, looked at the trees in front of him and said, "You can come out now."

A second or so later twelve anbu wearing oni masks came out and surrounded Naruto. Strapped to their backs were tanto's and the word, "NE" was written on their masks. "Hmm, Root eh? I was wondering when that old mummy was going to approach me." Naruto murmured.

The anbu in front of Naruto, who he assumed was the leader of this group, spoke. "Danzo-sama has taken a interest in you after hearing of your exploits. He wishes to meet with you about a proposition that you might be interested in." He said in an emotionless yet commanding voice.

Naruto smirked underneath his mask. "In other words he wants me to join his little group?" He asked and though he got no response he knew that it was the correct assumption. "Unfortunately I have no intentions of doing such a thing but I would like to have a little 'chat' with him. But I have other things I must do so I'll see him when I have the time."

The leader said nothing at first, such made a few body movements at the other Root operatives. The others soon reached for their weapons and got into fighting stances. "You misunderstood me Zen-san." The leader said. "When I said that Danzo-sama wishes to see you, he meant now and with no delays. Also he won't take no for an answer."

Naruto sighed and shook his head in pity. "You know I was actually planning on letting you guys go but if you're going to be like that." He paused as he raised his head. "I'll have to get rid of you."

Suddenly there were several flashes and a few seconds later all of the Root anbu laid on the ground dead, their throat slits. As for Naruto, he was standing where he was before, two ninjato in each of his hands and covered in blood. After surveying his work, Naruto cleaned the blood off the blades and resealed them back into their hiding places. With one final look at the corpses Naruto vanished in thin air.

**In Konoha (A Week Later)**

The village known as Konoha had changed much during the two years, a little for the better and a little for the bad. Konoha had managed to recover from their economic depression but had yet to rebuild their village's reputation. Over the past two years the nations that had respected Naruto would give any Konoha-nin that they saw cold glares and there were even a few places that wouldn't allow them entry, forcing the ninjas to henge so they could get in.

When working with villages such as Taki or Suna, the ninjas of said villages would often give them cold glares and would barely talk to them during the missions. Fortunately Suna made Temari the representative of their village in Konoha and was usually working with Shikamaru who acted as her escort since he became a tokubetsu jonin after finally being nagged by the Suna-kunoichi and his mother.

Speaking of ranks, the other members of the Konoha 11 also got promoted as well. Shino also became a tokubetsu jonin while both Neji and Sasuke, the latter had to work hard for it, both became jonins. All the other remaining members were chunin though they were preparing for the next jonin exam. They all pushed themselves to the limit these past two years in order to help rebuild Konoha's strength and also to honor Naruto's memory. On the day that Naruto disappeared, all of Konoha 11 would eat at Ichiraku, though they somewhat allowed Sasuke to join as well due to the tension between him and the members of the retrieval team.

Currently in the Hokage office, Tsunade Senju was doing paperwork, except this time there was a much smaller amount then before and she had shadow clones doing it for her, an idea that she got from Naruto. Apparently the civilian council had tried to put a lot of changes into Konoha that would suit their needs rather then the village as a whole. Now with them out of the way the amount of forms to sign lessened by a lot though it was still enough to force Tsunade to create shadow clones.

Despite the relief of no longer having the civilian council, the elders, including Danzo, were still a problem. Her sensei's teammates and advisors were always more militaristic then Hiruzen was, and her as well. The three of them were still able to pull some strings in order to retain some power despite the Daimyo's warning of usurping the Hokage's position. But as long as Tsunade kept them on a tight leash they wouldn't try anything drastic.

Suddenly Shizune came barging in with a scroll in her hand. "Tsunade-sama! We just got word that Suna was attack and that the Kazekage was kidnapped by Akatsuki!" She said as she handed the scroll to Tsunade.

Tsunade read the contents quickly before looking back up at Shizune. "What teams with chunin to jonin ranks do we have available?" Tsunade asked.

"The first two I can think of our team Kakashi and team Guy. They haven't been on a mission in a while and our fresh to go." Shizune replied.

Tsunade nodded and began pulling out another scroll. "I want them here in an hour. And tell Kakashi that lateness is not tolerable!" The Hokage ordered as she began writing a reply to Suna. Shizune nodded and headed back out the door to send out messengers to the members of the two teams to inform them to report to the Hokage's Office.

An hour later as she ordered the two teams were standing before her, including team 7's new member, a pale boy named Sai. Tsunade knew that Sai was part of Danzo's Root faction, which was suppose to be disbanded during her sensei's rule, but it was clear that the old warhawk never did that. However Tsunade had no real evidence to prove it and even if she did Danzo had the backing of Koharu and Homaru, the other two elders. Danzo's reason for putting Sai with team Kakashi was because he wanted one of his own to keep an eye on Sasuke, not that Tsunade could blame him since she didn't fully trust the Uchiha herself.

With that in mind she began to inform the two teams why they had been summoned. "An hour ago we received a scroll from one of Suna's messenger birds about an attack on said village by Akatsuki." She paused as she let that sink in before continuing. "While little damage was done to the village, at least over a dozen shinobi were killed by the two infiltrators and on top of that Gaara, the Kazekage was kidnapped as well. You are to head towards Suna to find out more on the situation and then assist with tracking down the Kazekage and his kidnappers and rescue him. As for the two Akatsuki members, try and at least capture one or if that fails kill them."

Kakashi spoke once Tsunade was done. "Did the scroll give any detail of the two Akatsuki members?" Kakashi asked.

Tsunade shook her head. "No the scroll was hasty sent to us in order to get help before the kidnappers got to far, so there is no description of their abilities. You will most likely be told of what they are when you arrive there. Also Temari left a few hours ago this morning. If you see her inform her of what has happened so she can accompany you. You leave in twenty minutes, dismissed." Tsunade said.

Once the two teams were out of the office Tsunade said to the wind, "I swear one of these days I'm going to lock the windows so you'll be force to use the door."

Leaning against the wall with an open window to his right was Jiraiya, his arm crossed as he smiled at his former teammate's comment. "If you did that Hime you wouldn't be able to get out of this office now and then without no one seeing you when you go to refill your stash of sake." He replied.

Tsunade rolled her eyes before leaning against her chair. "So what news on Akatsuki and Sadahiko?" She asked the Toad Sage.

Despite not really being a threat to Konoha due to them no longer having the Kyuubi, in Tsunade's mind anyone who wanted all the tail beasts and had people who were S-rank was not something you could ignore. So Jiraiya for the past two years has been digging up info on both Akatsuki and the whereabouts of Sadahiko Uzumaki.

"Well as you already know Akatsuki has made its move on Suna, capturing Gaara." Jiraiya said. "My network has also found some evidence that Amegakure might be affiliated with Akatsuki."

Tsunade nodded, making a note to have a team scout the border between the Fire Country and the Rain Country. "And Sadahiko?" She asked.

Jiraiya shook his head. "Nothing, its like he vanished off the face of the map. I even tried to get to Uzushio but the whirlpools around the island have become much fiercer for some reason, making it impossible for anyone to get through."

"Damn" Tsunade murmured to herself. "So now we don't know what he may be doing right now or if it's the clan in general. What do you think?"

Jiraiya shrugged. "Well with Akatsuki we should probably try and make sure they don't get their hands on the other tailed beasts though that will be a problem since I doubt the other villages will let us interfere. As for Sadahiko its more like a wait and see game with him. We have no idea what he might do so our best move for now is to wait for him to make the first one." The Toad Sage suggested.

Tsunade sighed. She wasn't much of a waiting person and would rather take action against this very dangerous man right now but from what little information that had on his whereabouts they really had no choice. "Very well but I don't like it. When are you going to meet with your contacts again?" She asked the white hair man.

Jiraiya nodded. "In about three days. That will give me enough time to catch up on my research." He said with a perverted grin before shunshining, which was a good thing too as Tsunade was about to deliver a deadly punch to his face.

"Ero-baka!" She yelled.

**Near the border of Wind and Fire Country**

Two men could be seen walking through the forest of the Fire Country after just coming from the sandy lands of the Wind Country. Though they both wore black cloaks with red clouds on them and straw hats that covered their faces, their body structure were different. The one on the right appeared to be normal looking except that his left arm was torn off, a sign was that half of his sleeve was gone as well. The man beside him was the odd looking one. He was shorted, almost to his partner's waist, and appeared to be crawling instead of walking. Another thing was that above them was a white owl that was flying low. Wrapped around its tail was Gaara, the Godaime Kazekage and the jinchuuriki of the Ichibi.

The normal looking one shifted his head until he was looking up at the bird. "Hmm, I wonder how long he'll stay unconscious?" The man asked to no one in particular.

His companion replied, "Shouldn't you be more worried about your current lack of a left arm Deidara?"

The man identified as Deidara smirked. "Oh don't worry Sasori-sama, I'm sure Kakuzu-san can just get me a new one. After all remember when Hidan came back and was missing his right leg from a fire jutsu? Kakuzu-san was able to find a replacement in no time. So there's not to much to worry about, yeah." The younger man replied confidently.

His partner, Sasori, merely grunted at the reply of his partner, "You're way to confident, that's going to get you killed one day. And when that day comes I'm just going to watch." He commented.

Deidara rolled his eyes when he suddenly froze, his ninja senses going up. The same was with Sasori and before either of them could speak hundreds of kunai appeared, all of them heading straight towards the two Akatsuki members. Deidara jumped up and landed on top of the owl, out of the kunai's range. Sasori however revealed a metal scorpion like tail from underneath his cloak and use the tail to swat the oncoming projectiles. However the moment that the first kunai touched his tail he realized that they all had explosive tags on them, which all went off at the same time.

"Sasori-sama!" Deidara cried as he telepathically commanded the owl to go higher in order to avoid the explosion. But then he saw a figure appear from the trees nearby and once he came into the light Deidara calmed down when he saw that it was Sasori. The former Suna-nin used a kawarim to escape the blast.

Sasori looked up at his partner and shouted. "Deidara above you!"

Deidara's eye widened and he looked up to see a masked Naruto heading straight towards him. Deidara had no chance to counter so he had to jump out of the way in order to avoid the devastating punch that destroyed the clay owl, allowing Naruto to grab Gaara. Fortunately Deidara had already expected something like this to happen and so had made a clay bird just in case. Using his sole arm he threw the bird at Naruto and it soon came to life and began flying at the mask boy. Once it was close enough Deidara said, "Katsu!" And clay bird exploded right in front of Naruto. Deidara smiled at the easy kill, when suddenly some invisible force blew the smoke away, revealing an unharmed Naruto who had Gaara under his right arm. Then Naruto raised his left hand towards Deidara and the Iwa bomber was blown far away by the same force.

As Naruto watched as the blond hair Akatsuki was sent crashing into the forest, he caught something at the corner of his eye. It was a barrage of senbons that were heading straight towards him. But he used Fox Step to allow the projectiles to pass right through his body. Once he landed on the ground he saw that the source of the senbons came from Sasori's mouth. "So my guess was right." Naruto said as he looked at the emotionless wooden face of the short man. "That's not your real body, just a puppet."

If Naruto had to guess then he assumed that the real Sasori raised an eyebrow. "You already knew?" The puppet user asked.

Naruto shrugged as he made a shadow clone without hand seals. "It wasn't that hard." He said as he handed the unconscious Gaara to his clone, who began to back away. "A puppeteer's natural weakness is their inability to defend themselves in close-range combat. And you're renowned as a genius for your skills with puppets so I was kind of obvious that you would have a puppet to bypass a puppeteer's usual weakness." Naruto said in a monotone voice.

Sasori had to admit that was pretty impressive to have figured that out so quickly. "Interesting, you seem to think very thoroughly before engaging an enemy. Though having heard of your reputation it is not surprising, Shiba no Shisha." Soon a hand appeared out of the cloak and promptly removed said clothing, revealing the puppet's body. As already pointed out the puppet had a metal scorpion tail attached between its legs. Speaking of which the puppet was on all fours due to the large armored mask on top of it and strapped to his left arm appeared to be some kind of container.

Naruto stared at it a little longer while his clone, still carrying Gaara, jumped into a tree a few feet back. "Most impressive" Naruto commented as he looked at the puppet. "But lets see how well it does." And then he charged forward at blinding speed. Sasori reacted quickly, he lifted his left arm and launched the object attached to it. While flying in the air the object soon began to fire shrapnel of senbons all over the place, no doubt coated with poison. But they were all useless as Naruto used Mikado to either dodge them with blinding speed or let them phase through his body. Once Naruto was close enough he jumped into the air right above Sasori. Acting on instincts Sasori swung his tail at Naruto, hoping to smack him to the side. However, and with little effort, Naruto merely swatted the tail to the side with a wave of his arm. Then he lunged his fist downward and destroyed the armored mask of the puppet, along with the rest of its body. Once the mask was fully broken a cloaked figure jumped out, avoiding Naruto's fist. Naruto jumped away from him and soon both were staring at each other. Then the hooded man pulled off his cloak and revealed that he was a young man, perhaps in his mid-teens, with short red hair that went down and wide brown eyes. He also wore the usual Akatsuki cloak.

Naruto raised an eyebrow underneath his mask. "So that's what you look like." He said in a monotone voice.

Sasori grinned a little as he dug through his cloak. "You were expecting someone older?" He asked.

Naruto shrugged. "In all honesty I didn't really care what your age was. I just didn't think the face of your puppet body would look so lifelike." Naruto said.

Sasori's eyes widened in shock at what he said. 'I know that he would've figured out Hiruko but to know about my new body…how is that possible?" Nonetheless Sasori pulled out a scroll from his cloak and released its contents. "Allow me to introduce you to one of my favorite puppets: The Third Kazekage"

And with that announcement a human size puppet with spiky black hair and yellow eyes, wearing a brown cloak appeared. Naruto just stared at the puppet before him. 'Yujin already told me about how Sasori managed to kill the Sandaime Kazekage already. Also apparently the man possessed the Kekkei Genkai known as Magnet Release. There might be a possibility that this puppet can still use it so I should be prepared.' "Well I admit, for you to be able to kill the Sandaime, who is proclaimed the strongest of all the Kazekages, is quite an impressive feat. I see why you're ranked as an S-class ninja." Then he charged towards the puppet and Sasori. "Lets see how it holds out!"

Sasori smirked; a frontal assault was a foolish move to use on a puppet user such as himself as he just launched his puppet straight towards Naruto. Popping out of the puppet's right arm was a triple bladed sword that looked like a claw. Naruto also noticed that it was covered in poison.

However when the two were close enough Naruto raised his right hand and tapped the puppet's chest before running right through it, much to the shock of Sasori who was now wide open. Fortunately he managed to turn the Sandaime Kazekage puppet around and get it to attack Naruto's back.

But it was at that moment that he spotted something on the puppet. On the same spot that Naruto had touched was the symbol for an explosive tag. Before he could even react, Naruto formed a one-handed snake seal and the Sandaime Kazekage puppet blew up, destroyed completely as Sasori felt his chakra threads go limp. Unfortunately he had no time to mourn as Naruto was almost upon him. Suddenly Sasori made a few movements and a thick cable wrapped around a pole shot out of his stomach and went straight towards Naruto. Naruto also noticed that it was coated in poison but there was no time to dodge it. But he managed to do a kawarimi with a log, thus avoiding the attack easily and disappearing from Sasori's sight.

'Where did he go now?' Sasori asked himself as he took off his cloak, revealing the rest of his puppet body and allowing the poles with five large blades strapped to his back expand. He also had a scroll holder on his back to, which was most likely held more puppets. On the right side of his chest was what appeared to be the lid to a compartment. And on the left side was a cylinder shape container that said 'Core' on it.

But right now Sasori's main concern was to figure out where Naruto was going to come. He knew that his opponent wouldn't try another frontal assault and the puppeteer was pretty sure he could handle any attacks from the side. 'So that only leaves…behind me!' He thought and suddenly he heard a whizzing noise from said direction, causing him to spin around just in time to see a barrage of shuriken flying straight towards him. No time to dodge Sasori raised both his arms and soon fire shot out of his hands. The flames consumed the oncoming shuriken barrage and quickly the metal began to melt due to the intense heat. Once all of them were melted from existence Sasori lowered his arms and turned off the flamethrowers…just as a blade pierced the container in his chest, making blood pour out of it.

Sasori coughed out some blood but managed to slowly turn his head in order to see Naruto standing right behind him with a ninjato in his hands. The puppet user realized that the whole thing with the shuriken barrage was nothing but a decoy, allowing his opponent to get behind him a deliver a fatal blow. As Naruto dug the blade deeper Sasori managed to croak out, "Damn you…" Before his body finally went limp, along with the ring on his finger slipping out of his hand and landing on the ground.

Sasori of the Red Sand…was dead.

As Naruto pulled out the ninjato from Sasori's body, allowing it to plop to the ground, his clone appeared and had Gaara hung over his shoulder. "Well?" Naruto asked his clone.

The clone simply tossed Naruto something, put Gaara down and dispelled. Once the clone was gone Naruto was able to gain all of its memories of what had happened while he was battling Sasori. He looked down at the object now in his hand, revealing it to be a golden medallion with the symbol of the Uzumaki clan on it. After checking it he placed the medallion under his cloak and went to check on the still unconscious Gaara. After checking his pulse and healing a few of his more serious injuries, along with tapping his head where chakra went from his fingers into Gaara's body, Naruto picked up the Kazekage and leaned him on his back. But before he did that he took out a scroll and sealed Sasori's body, deciding that he could earn the bounty on the former Suna-nin. Once that was all done Naruto took off towards Sunagakure.

However as Naruto began to get further and further away from the battlefield, a large venus fly-trap appeared out of the ground. The fly-trap was soon followed by the Akatsuki cloak and when it opened, it revealed Zetsu, the scout and spy of Akatsuki. "Well that was unexpected." White Zetsu said.

"**The Leader will not be please of how not only was the Ichibi taken from us but that Sasori is dead." **Black Zetsu replied.

"At least we still have Sasori's ring." White Zetsu commented as he picked up said object from the ground. "Now there is an opening in the group. You think Tobi is going to fill it?"

"**Most likely" **Black Zetsu replied. **"He's planning on finishing the project this year and now with this mask guy causing trouble he'll probably want to get involved personally."**

"Yeah and we still haven't been able to find any traces of the Kyuubi or its jinchuuriki, if the Uzumaki kid is still alive that is." White Zetsu said as the two took off to find Deidara.

**Sungakure Hospital**

Back in Suna around that time, Team Kakashi and Team Guy along with Temari had finally arrived at the village. After receiving a less then pleasant welcome, both teams were escorted towards the hospital, where one Kankuro was being treated after his battle with Sasori in his vain attempt to save Gaara. When they arrived to the room, there was a brief confrontation between Kakashi and a Suna elder name Chiyo, who mistaken the former for his father. After that was settled Sakura began to work on extracting the poison that was now coursing through Kankuro's body while everyone else was being briefed by Baki who had taken command of the village in Gaara's absence.

"We're still recovering after the attack by Akatsuki so we won't be able to send you support at the moment." Baki said to Kakashi. "However, thanks to Kankuro, we managed to acquire some clothing of one of the Akatsuki members. This might help you locate where they're taking Kazekage-sama." He said the last part as he handed a small piece of cloth to Kakashi.

The silver hair jonin nodded before asking, "Could you give us a description of their abilities? It would better suit us if we knew what we were up against."

Baki nodded as a nearby Suna-nin handed him some papers. "First we can say that the one who fought Kazekage-sama was exceptionally strong and skilled, seeing how he managed to stay on par and even defeat a Kage-level shinobi. We didn't recognize him anywhere in our current Bingo Books but from what he could make of his face he was about in his teens, had long blond hair and something covering his left eye. He also had an Iwa-head band too."

Kakashi stopped him as he looked at Guy. "Check our bingo book for anyone of that description." Guy nodded as Kakashi turned back to Baki. "Continue"

"From what he saw he appears to be more of a long range specialist. He can make clay figures quickly and apparently they can move on their own, though we believe he might be controlling them mentally. The important part is that they explode upon his command. The bright side is that Gaara-sama managed to destroy his left arm so he couldn't be that much of a threat."

"What about his partner, were you able to find out who that was?" Kakashi asked.

Baki paused for a moment before looking at Chiyo. When the elder woman nodded her head Baki spoke. "From what Kankuro told us when he faced the man, the other Akatsuki member was none other then Sasori of the Red Sand, a missing-nin from our own village who left about twenty years ago."

"That would explain how they managed to infiltrate the village so easily. Sasori probably had a good memory of its defenses, even if he left the village a long time ago." Neji said putting his two sense into the discussion.

Baki nodded in agreement. "Sasori was known as a genius of our village and was known world wide as a cunning ninja, skilled in using puppets and poison, since he was once part of our Puppet Brigade. Chiyo-ba-sama confirmed this when she looked at the poison sample that we collected from Kankuro's body. He created many puppets that almost all of our puppeteers use. That's all we know so far but Chiyo-ba-sama can fill in the rest for you as much as she can."

"Kakashi" Guy said as he looked up from the Konoha Bingo book. "The one that defeated Gaara is called Deidara from Iwa. From what it says about him he possess the Kekkei Genkai of the Explosive Release and was once part of the Iwa Explosion Corps. He apparently stole something from his home village before defecting. That's all we have on him."

Kakashi was about to reply when suddenly a Suna chunin appeared, panting a little as if he had used all his energy just to get here. "Baki-san, we have news from the northern entrance!" The chunin said.

"What happened?" Baki asked worryingly, fearing that an enemy village might have gotten wind of both the disappearance of their Kazekage and the damages their village had taken.

After a few seconds of catching his breath the chunin replied, "The guards spotted a man approaching the village and…and on his back was Kazekage-sama!"

Everyone's eyes widened at the news. Had someone been able to defeat both Akatsuki members? "Have you identified him?" Baki asked.

"Judging by his appearance and the clothing he's wearing" The chunin began. "We've confirmed that he is the one called Zen the Shiba no Shisha."

The name made all people gathered pale. Despite having appeared about three years ago, the man known as Zen had made a good impression toward the shinobi world with his unknown abilities and record of killing high ranked bounties. After hearing who it was it wasn't so surprising that this man might have been able to stop the two Akatsuki members. "Where is he now?" Baki asked the chunin.

"Outside the entrance with jonin guarding him. He refuses to speak with anyone but the current commander of the village." The chunin replied.

Baki nodded. "I'll head there right now." He said, to which the chunin nodded in return and vanished. The Suna commander turned towards the gathered Konoha-nin. "I apologize but it seems that we won't be needing your help. But you're welcome to come with me to meet this man." He said to Kakashi.

The silver hair jonin nodded. "Of course, there are some questions I would like to ask him too about his confrontation with Akatsuki." Kakashi replied.

**Sungakure Northern Entrance**

Zen, or Naruto, calmly stood with Gaara on his back as the several jonins watched him. It didn't take a fool to know what was going in the minds of these ninjas. All of them were debating of just capturing him and taking back Gaara. However Naruto's reputation as well as literally holding Gaara's life in the palm of his hands, was forcing them to stay their hands. 'Well its good to see that Gaara managed to earn the village's respect if their think about fighting me.' Naruto thought as he saw several forms approaching from the village. He recognized them as Baki, Temari, Gaara's older sister, and to his surprise somewhat, his former team and Team Guy. The only person missing out of the Konoha group was Sakura and he did not recognize the pale skin boy. 'That must be Sai, the Root agent that Danzo placed onto my old team.' Naruto thought to himself as the group were now a few feet away from him. He looked at Baki and said, "Greetings Suna-san, Konoha-san. I assume that you're the jonin commander?" Naruto asked as he bowed a little, careful not to lose his grip on Gaara.

Baki bowed in response. "That I am. I thank you sir for saving our Kazekage-sama, though if you don't mind me asking why?"

Naruto shrugged. "To be all honest I didn't really intend to engage those two ninjas when I saw them passing by. But when I spotted the Kazekage I figured that I should try and save him since a person I met spoke highly of him, apparently they are close friends. I managed to kill Sasori of the Red Sand too but his partner vanished from my sight."

All the Suna-nins were shocked; this man had managed to kill Sasori, one of their village's geniuses? It was then an elderly woman with purple hair made her presence known. "Can you confirm this?" She asked suspiciously.

Naruto nodded and then using his left hand to support Gaara more, he used his right hand to pull out a scroll from his cloak. Then he tossed it at the elder. "His body is sealed within this scroll. You can look at it later, right now I would like to get my burden off of my back. I'm sure that you would want to make sure that there are no serious injuries done to the Kazekage."

Baki nodded and gave a signal to two Suna-nins. The ninjas walked towards Naruto who gladly handed them the unconscious Gaara. Once the Kazekage was safely leaning on their shoulders they took of towards the hospital, followed by Temari. Baki turned back to Zen/Naruto and bowed again. "I thank you again for retrieving our Kazekage." He said, which Naruto returned. Once that was done Baki and the other Suna-nins turned around and headed back to the village, along with some of the Konoha-nins since they still had to wait for Sakura to finish healing Kankuro. But just as Naruto was about to leave he felt a hand being placed onto his shoulder. He turned around to face Kakashi. "Yes can I help you Konoha-san?" Naruto asked.

"Yes you mentioned that a person you met was a close friend of the Kazekage. You wouldn't to happen to know what his name was do you?" Kakashi asked. True Gaara had changed from his psycho killing personality two years ago but not many people really could say that they were close friends with the young Kazekage. The only person that could make such a claim would be Naruto, which was why Kakashi asked.

Zen/Naruto scratched his head, pretending like he was trying to remember the person. "I didn't catch his name but he was tall, had tan skin, probably in his mid teens, had spiky blond hair, blue eyes and…oh yeah, these whisker marks on his cheeks too." The mask shinobi finally said.

Everyone still there gasp at the final description. There was only one person in the world that had whisker marks on their cheeks. "Where did you see him?" Kakashi asked quickly, his attention fully on the mask shinobi before him.

"In a small village somewhere in Fire Country. It was about two years ago." Naruto said. "I believe it was called Kansei Village. Though he might have left by now but you could probably get some info there of where he went off to."

Kakashi nodded and made a note to summon Pakkun to report this to Tsunade. "I see thank you for this information." Kakashi said before doing a small bow.

Naruto returned it before heading off away from the village, a smirk underneath his mask. **"Mind telling me why you told them that?" **Kurama asked through their link.

"Simple really" Naruto said. "To divide their attention and focus on one another. When they arrive to the village, or what's left of it, they'll become suspicious of Danzo and Orochimaru's activities while also focusing on Akatsuki at the same time. That way Akatsuki can finish sealing the remaining bijuu and once they are done I can eliminate them and freely gain control over the Gedo Mazou."

"**What about Shukaku?" **Kurama asked. **"You do know that despite the amount of his chakra that is still inside Gaara's chakra coils, Suna and most likely Akatsuki will know that he no longer possess the tanuki right?"**

"I know that" Naruto said as he looked down at the medallion. Now and then a small amount of red chakra would leak out but the main part of the Ichibi's chakra remained locked inside of it. "However we can easily remain undetected from their spies while completing the rest of the plan."

Kurama nodded in agreement. Naruto's new skills allow him to be impossible to find unless he wanted to be located. **"Still I'm surprise that you told them that you once stayed at that village, especially what happened back there…" **The fox said grimly.

Naruto frowned as he remembered what happened that fateful night. "Its in the past now." He said in an emotionless voice. "And soon I will avenge them for what happened."

**I bet you're all wondering what happened at that village huh? Well you'll have to wait for the next chapter. Review!**

**Also Kensei means peaceful and is a village I made up.**

**Wacko12**


	5. Doors, Secrets, Reunions

**Okay here is the next chapter of my story! Enjoy, read and review!**

**Konoha Hokage's Office (Four Days after Gaara's Return to Suna)**

Tsunade read the scroll over and over again, her eyes wide as dinner plates. Inside her office were her assistant Shizune, with Tonton in her hands, along with Kakashi, Jiraiya, and Shikaku, the Jonin commander. She had summoned them based on the information that Kakashi had gotten. "You're sure about this Kakashi?" Tsunade asked as she looked up at the Cyclops jonin.

Kakashi nodded with a serious look on his face, hell he didn't even have his Icha Icha book out. "Positive, though I admit that trusting information from a source such as Zen is not exactly a good idea. But his description of the man matches Naruto's straight down to the whiskers. Also Jiraiya-sama and I did some research on the village that the man mentioned."

Tsunade looked at her former perverted partner who began explaining what they found. "Kansei Village is indeed in Fire Country, but it's very small and not well known but its hidden in a large valley that either a skilled ninja or someone who knows the paths well enough can get through. The lands nearby the village are very rich according to my contacts so the people there don't do a lot of trading. Finally it was apparently built sometime after the 3rd Shinobi World War." Jiraiya said.

"But what I don't get is why Naruto hasn't come back to the village?" Shizune asked. "I mean it's been three years since he's gone missing, shouldn't he have come back by now?"

"I don't think that he didn't want to come back, I thinks it's because he couldn't come back." Shikaku Nara commented, gaining everyone's attention. "From what Kakashi described of the battle that took place between Naruto and the Uchiha at the valley, Naruto was probably severely injured as much as the Uchiha. And according to the maps, this village isn't far from where they fought so Naruto probably tried to get to the closes civilize place he could find where he could heal his wounds until he was strong enough to come back."

The others could see the logic in that; of course that was why Shikaku was the Jonin Commander in the first place.

"So do you think he's still there?" Tsuande asked the Nara Head.

Shikaku scratched his head. "Well if his injuries were as severe as Sasuke's and didn't get the same type of medical treatment that the Uchiha got, then it's probably a good chance he might still be there." He paused as everyone took that in. "However, this is Naruto we're talking about and due to his 'tenant's' healing factors, it's a good chance to say that he might have already left the village or is still staying there against his will. In any case we should probably investigate the village and see what we can find."

Tsunade nodded in agreement along with the others. "In that case a team will be assembled at once. I would send Jiraiya but I need him to be in contact with his network at the moment. So Kakashi" Said man looked up at the Hokage. "I'm sending your team along with Team Kurenai to investigate the village and hopefully find some clues of where Naruto could be since they are a tracking team. Shizune shall also come with you in just in case you get any wounded. You leave in one hour."

"Hai!" Everyone responded.

**Root Headquarters**

Sitting at his desk and reading the latest reports from his agents, or to be more precise the one he had assign to watch over the Hokage, was Danzo Shimura. Learning about the possible idea that the Kyuubi jinchuuriki could be alive made the old warhawk think about how this would affect his plans. True during the past three years he had sent many of his Root agents to find the boy but with no success. In order to find another way to power Danzo had begun doing deals with underworld people and Orochimaru, hoping to gain enough power to overthrow Tsunade. However with this information on Naruto's suppose whereabouts he may be able to stick to his original plan. However it was the location…

"Hyo" Danzo suddenly said and a second later a young man wearing an ANBU mask, except not an animal feature on it, appeared before Danzo, kneeling.

"Yes Danzo-sama?" Hyo asked.

"Word has reached me that Tsunade has learned of the possible location of one Naruto Uzumaki and is sending Sai's team along with another to investigate. Your orders are to simply let Sai know that he is to send word to me of any discoveries made there. However I have another assignment for him that focuses on the place they are going too."

When Hyo said nothing Danzo continued. "As I'm sure you recall, since you're one of the few I trust, I had sent a detachment of Root agents to the same location, which is known as Kansei Village. The reason was because I had confirmed information that the people of the village had scrolls that contained powerful jutsus along with other rare artifacts. The mission was simple: kill the populace and retrieve the items. But that was two years ago and I never heard anything from the agents I sent. At the time I couldn't afford to send a search party because Konoha was weakened at the time and I believed that Root would better help by watching over the country's borders." He paused as he handed a scroll to Hyo. "This scroll contains instructions for Sai to not only learn any new information of the jinchuuriki's whereabouts but also what happened to the agents I sent there two years ago. Is that understood Hyo?"

Hyo nod his head, took the scroll and shunshin out of the room. Alone again Danzo decided to look over some other work when suddenly someone said, "You must really like staying in the loop if you're giving such complicated missions."

Danzo spun around and was soon looking at Zen who was in a slouch position. Despite the fact that this man was able to approach him undetected, or the mere fact that he _even _found this place, Danzo retained a calm composure while facing this dangerous man. "One must always know what is going to happen in this dangerous world we live in." Danzo replied while secretly activating an alarm seal to alert his agents.

"Don't bother" Zen/Naruto said. "I've disarmed any seals in this room and have also put all of your agents under a genjutsu, which just leave you and me." He said with a chuckle.

Frowning, but still calmed, Danzo replied, "I assume that you received that invitation I sent to you a week ago? Though since none of my agents returned it's a good guess you came here uninvited."

Naruto nodded a large folder containing numerous documents appeared in his hand. "Pretty much, I just wanted to lay down a few things for you."

Danzo raised his visible brow. "Such as…?"

"Oh nothing special" Naruto said as he casually looked through the folder. "Basically letting you know that I am aware of _every_ single mission, not approved missions if I may add, that your agents have taken for the suppose _good for the village_." He smirked as he watched Danzo's hand tighten his chair's armrest. "Also I know about your operation too, and it should be interesting if Tsunade and Sasuke learned of it as well, wouldn't you think?"

This caught Danzo by surprise; how did he gain such information about his arm and eye? Not even his agents knew about that. 'Did Orochimaru tell him? Or did he have spies within my organization?' Danzo wondered as he was contemplating of what to do. "So if you know all that…what do you want from me?" He finally asked the mask man before him.

Naruto shrugged as the folder disappeared. "Nothing really, or at the moment. I'll leave you alone and let you do whatever you want…as long as it suits me. However" He paused as he leaned forward towards Danzo. "If you do anything that might hinder my plans in anyway, I will make sure that the very village that you swore to protect looks upon you as its greatest enemy. In other words, I now control your fate for as long as you live and perhaps even after that." And with that done and said he disappeared in a flash, leaving a stun yet angry Danzo.

**Unknown Cave**

Several astral images appeared in a circle, all of them male with just one being a female. One of them, whose eyes were that of the Rinnegan, spoke first. "As you all know the mission to capture the Ichibi was a failure and worse of all Sasori was killed as well by this Zen." Then he paused to look at Zetsu. "What information do you have on this man Zetsu?"

Zetsu shrugged. "Not much really, the man is a total mystery and that mask he wears is no help either since it covers his face. And to add to bad news we found something out when we went back to Suna to spy on the Kazekage." White Zetsu commented.

"Such as?" Pain, the leader of Akatsuki, asked.

"**Apparently, somehow, the Ichibi was extracted from the Kazekage. Its no longer inside of him." **Black Zetsu replied.

This caused some talking amongst the members.

"I thought you couldn't take those things out of the people without fucking killing them?" Hidan asked.

"I think this Zen character might have done it, though how I'm not sure?" White Zetsu said.

"However he did it doesn't matter. If he's after the bijuu then he is a threat to our plans." Pain said.

"What if we try to recruit him?" Itachi asked in a calm voice. "He clearly is very skilled to have taken on both Sasori-san and Deidara and now that there is an opening in our organization we should try and open an invitation to him."

The idea did make sense to the others but soon someone scoffed at it. It was Deidara, who just recently got a replacement for the lost of his left arm. "I don't think that's going to work yeah. I only got a glimpse of the bastard and I can tell that he's not someone who follows orders yeah. Plus I don't feel like working with a bastard that managed to beat me so easily uhn."

"Deidara makes a good point." Pain added. "We have no idea what this man's goals are and allowing him to join might threaten our own plan. However we cannot ignore him as he now holds onto the Ichibi but we should focus on capturing the other bijuu for now. Zetsu have you figured out where they are?" He asked the organization's spy.

Zetsu nodded. "The Nibi was seen on a mission with a group of Kumo-nins near the borders of the Lightning Country and far away from civilization." White Zetsu said.

"**We spotted the Sanbi reforming in one of the lakes in Water Country but it's too soon to go and get it. I give it about a week until it's finally formed." **Black Zetsu commented.

"The Yonbi had crossed through the borders of the Earth Country into the Fire Country, alone."White Zetsu said.

"**We're still having trouble locating the Rokubi. Last time it was in the Water Country but apparently it took a boat toward Fire Country."** Black Zetsu reported.

"The Hachibi is still within Kumogakure so we won't be able to capture it anytime soon. However Bee, the jinchuuriki is getting restless of the Raikage keeping him inside the village and will sooner or later try to get away." White Zetsu added.

"**And we're still having no luck finding the Kyuubi since its jinchuuriki disappeared three years ago. Though its possible that this Zen character might know where it is if he was able to capture the Ichibi." **Black Zetsu finally said.

Pain nodded before looking at the others. "Very well then. Kakazu, Hidan" Both men looked up. "You shall head towards Lightning Country and capture the Nibi, eliminate anyone who is with the target."

"Itachi and Kisame" The Uchiha and Swordsman paid attention. "Since we cannot locate the Kyuubi yet, I want you Kisame to go and capture the Yonbi. According to our information the jinchuuriki is a wielder of the Lava Release Kekkei Genkai so your water jutsus should be more then a match for him." Kisame nodded with a feral grin on his face.

"Deidara" The Iwa-bomber looked at his leader. "You'll head towards the Water Country to capture the Sanbi. But first make a stop near the border of the Fire Country that points in that direction, you'll be meeting your new partner there." Deidara groan, he knew who his new partner was and wasn't going to like it.

"And finally I will go and capture the Rokubi. As for the Hachibi we shall leave that one alone for now until we find an opening." Pain said and with that his image disappeared along with the woman and soon the rest followed.

Back in Amegakure, Pain and his partner Konan walked out of the room and towards the outlook that showed a view of the village. The village that they and their deceased friend, Yahiko, had fought for, its buildings reached towards the sky as if trying to touch heaven and make the rain stop. It was Yahiko's dream to one day stop the endless rain that engulfed their country and now Pain, Nagato, was doing it right now. But even though they were looking out at their village the two Akatsuki member's senses weren't the least bit dull. "So you've come to discuss about the recent developments Madara." Pain said in an emotionless tone.

Behind them and coming out of the shadows was a man, wearing the Akatsuki cloak as well. He wore an orange swirl mask with one eyehole on it, which covered his entire face thus revealing only his black spiky hair. And if you would look closely at the eyehole you could see the sharingan.

"Indeed" The man called Madara said. "This…Zen's involvement with our plans have somewhat made things off kilter. He has already killed Sasori and has taken the Ichibi. With the Kyuubi missing as well we will be hard press to complete the plan in time as well as tracking down this man in order to retrieve the Ichibi."

"Perhaps we should try and open an invitation to him like Itachi suggested." Konan said. "He would make a powerful addition to our cause."

"No I don't think it will be possible." Pain said as he looked at Konan briefly before turning towards Madara. "This man is an unknown and we don't know what his goal is. As I said before allowing him to join might compromise Akatsuki."

"Agreed" Madara commented as he looked out at the village. "Even Zetsu is having trouble locating this man and his space-time ninjutsu is almost on par with mine and the Yondaime Hokage. And from what Zetsu reported from his spying in Konoha, apparently Zen gave information to Kakashi about Naruto's possible location. However if this is true or not we will have to find out." Then he began to walk away. "I got to deal with some loose ends before meeting up with Deidara and capturing the Sanbi. Zetsu though will go and check out the location Zen gave Konoha and will report of what he finds." And with that Madara disappeared into a vortex, leaving the God of Amegakure and his angel alone.

**Near the Border of the Land of Fire**

For the past two days Team 7 and Team 8, along with Shizune were making good progress towards Kansei Village. Of course they had good reason to move so quickly through the trees; they had learned that Naruto was alive and apparently staying at this village. Though Tsunade wanted to keep this news on a low profile, somehow the members of Konoha 12 had learned of the meeting with Kakashi, Shikaku, and the Hokage. But they knew better then spread the word that Naruto might be alive to the rest of the village. While the shinobi side had begun to regret how they treated Naruto in the past and respected him for stopping Gaara during the Oto and Suna Invasion, along with bringing back Tsunade and Sasuke, the civilians still thought badly of Naruto, believing that everything bad that had happened to the village these past three years were his fault, though there were a few amongst them that thought differently. If they found out that Naruto was still alive then they would cry for his blood. So after a quick agreement and several warnings to the Gossip Queen Ino, the rookies decided to keep quiet about this information until they brought Naruto home.

Back in the present the two teams were making good time towards the small village. They had already entered the valley that was a few miles from the Valley of the End, though they had to avoid the usual rockslides but nonetheless managed to move swiftly. Suddenly Kiba and Akamaru stopped in their tracks, their noses in the air. This caught the attention of the rest of the group who stopped a few seconds later. "Kiba is something wrong?" Kurenai asked her student.

Kiba took several more sniffs before answering his sensei. "I smell burnt wood and rocks nearby, like there was some huge fire."

"Do you think something happened to the village?" Sakura asked.

Kakashi thought for a few moments before looking at Hinata. "Hinata, can you look with your Byakugan? Try and see if you can spot the village." The Jonin said.

Hinata nodded and activated her dojutsu, allowing her to see things at long distance. After a few seconds of scanning the area Hinata gasped, with a look of horror on her face. "What's wrong Hinata-san?" Shino asked her teammate.

"I-I ca-can see the village from here." Hinata stuttered. "B-but i-it looks like it's in ruins."

Everyone's eyes widened and with a silent command from Kakashi, the group doubled time towards the village, their ninja's senses on alert in case of attacks. But when they reached the outskirts of the village they were shocked of what they saw.

The village, or what was left of it, was in complete and utter ruins. The land around it was burnt to a crisp, leaving nothing but black ashes lying everywhere. Each and every house was in ruins, the roofs crumbled above them. There wasn't even a single sign of life.

"W-what happened here?" Sakura asked in shock.

"I don't know…looks like a natural disaster or something similar to it struck this village." Kakashi replied as he scanned the area. "We'll move in but be on your guard, we don't know if there are any enemies down there." Everyone nodded and followed the Copy-Cat ninja as they made their way down to their destination. As they got closer a sense of dread washed over them, as if they were walking towards something that there would be no backing out of. Like something that was suppose to be forgotten was about to come back and bite them in the ass. But right now their thoughts were on the state of the village as they finally began walking in it. Windows were shattered with glass lying on the ground, and many of the doors to the houses were broken or torn off completely. The air moved throughout the village, creating a haunting howl as it passed by, pushing the ashes along with it. Trees were completely charred and a few were torn down from the ground. The odd part was that there were no bodies, not even a few bones.

'Did the villagers manage to flee during the attack?' Kakashi asked himself as he noticed the lack of bodies. 'No even if they did a few of them and perhaps the attackers had to been killed, thus having some bodies lying around if there was no time to bury them. Something else must've happened here.' He turned to look at Hinata. "Hinata, do you see anything with your Byakugan?"

Said girl had her dojutsu activated and was currently scanning the village for anything out of the ordinary. Suddenly her face stopped completely as she looked towards the left. "Kakashi-sensei! I-I see some kind of l-large pile behind that house!" She said as she pointed towards the location. When they turned around the corner they all stopped still at the sight that they were greeted with.

Before them was a large pyramid of skulls, each one placed on top of the other in an organized fashion. At the top was a fully completely skeleton being held up by some sort of metal poles in a cross fashion. Around the pyramid of skulls was crimson dark blood.

"W-what i-is this?" Hinata muttered to herself as she looked upon the monument in horror.

Kakashi, having regained his senses first, walked towards the horrifying structure to examine the blood. When he touched an area of it he was surprise that it turned to dust from a simple touch. "This blood is dry." He said to the other shinobi. "That means they've been here for a while."

"But the question is whose remains are these?" Sasuke asked no one in particular. "Are they the attacker's or the villager's?"

"That is a good question." Kakashi said as he stood up and examined each and every skull, trying to find some clue as to what happened here. Suddenly his eyes caught something buried between two skulls. Moving carefully he dug his hand into the pile and managed to pull out the object. "This is…" He said in disbelief as he looked at what he now had in his hand.

"What is it Kakashi?" Kurenai asked as she walked over to her fellow jonin.

Kakashi showed her the object, which turned out to be a plain white mask. "It looks like an ANBU mask." Kurenai commented as she looked at the design of it. "But I don't recognize what village its from. How about you Kakashi."

Said jonin was quiet for a few seconds as he thought all this through. Unlike Kurenai he knew that the Konoha ANBU of the supposedly disbanded faction Root wore this mask. 'So these skulls must belong to Root agents.' Kakashi thought as he took a glance to the side at Sai, who was writing something in one of his scrolls. 'Question is what were they doing here? And does Sai know?' Kakashi sighed as he took out a container scroll. "We'll take this back with us and show it to Hokage-sama." Kakashi said as he sealed the mask into the scroll.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Kiba yelled, gaining everyone's attention. He was standing next to a small pathway leading into the valley again. "Akamaru and I found something!" He said as he followed his partner through the pathway while the others walked behind them. When they finally caught up to Kiba some of them were surprise of what he discovered. In front of them was a large cemetery with tombstones lined up one after another and the names of the people buried below on the tombstones as well. Some of them had miscellaneous items placed besides them like a teddy bear, flowers, dolls, action figures, a straw hat and much more.

"Looks like we now know what happened to the villagers." Shizune said as she stared at every single tombstone. True the loss of life was never an enjoyable, even for ninjas. But it was somewhat comforting to many of them that the villagers were given a proper burial instead having their remains left to rot in the sun.

Sakura bent down near a tombstone that had a doll lying next to it, offering a quick pray to the dead. That's when she noticed something odd about the tombstone. This wasn't a place where people come often and as such the tombstone should be covered in vines and dirt, or at least a little bit dusty. But this one, in fact all of them were cleaned. "Kakashi-sensei…" Sakura said to her sensei.

Kakashi nodded, noticing it as well. "Yes Sakura, these tombstones have been cleaned recently, meaning someone has been here not to long ago." Then he looked up at the small stone hill on the other side of the cemetery, where something caught his eye. It was small and hard to see but from the looks of it appeared to be a straight crack through the hill. His curiosity getting the better of him, Kakashi walked towards the small hill, gaining the attention of the rest of the team. They all followed the Copy Cat ninja towards the hill, where said man began tapping a part of the hill with his head leaning against it. He kept tapping the hill until he heard a different sound; this part of the hill was hollow. With that in mind he signaled to the others to be ready for anything as he began to slowly open the door while the others took battle stances. But instead of an attack, the fake rock structure revealed a stone door that had the picture of what appeared to be an eye but with several rings converging onto a small dot-like pupil. "Well this is unexpected. I wonder where it leads too." Kakashi said as he was going to touch the door…only to be sent flying backwards and thus crashing comically on the other side of the cemetery.

Everyone sweat dropped at the little display before looking back at the doorway. Slowly Kurenai leaned her finger towards the door, only for the same thing to happen to her, except her finger was shocked by some invisible force, causing the genjutsu mistress to flinch at the recoil. "Looks like some kind of barrier is protecting the door, a clear sign that no one is allowed to enter." She said as she looked back at the rest of the shinobi.

"Whatever is in there must be really important to have a barrier protecting it." Shino said as he pushed up his shades. At the same time Kakashi, having recovered, joined the others while rubbing his head.

"Well it is clear that Naruto is not here but something did happen. Chances are that it involves this door and whatever it leads too." Kakashi commented.

"So what do we do?" Kiba asked while Akamaru sniffed the door.

"The best thing to do is to head back to Konoha and report this to Hokage-sama." Kakashi said. "However I'll stay behind and see if I can find any clues about what happened here and maybe if Naruto was here as well. The rest of you will go back to the village and hopefully Jiraiya-sama can do something about this barrier."

"How would Jiraiya-sama be able to deal with the barrier?" Sakura asked.

It was Shizune who answered that. "Barriers can only be created by a group of ninjas, who must remain where they are in order to make sure the barrier stays up. The other way a barrier is created if someone places a seal in an area for the barrier to activate. Jiraya-sama, being a seal master, is the best choice to deal with this."

That made sense to everyone. Jiraiya was an extraordinary seal master, in fact the only one who could really rival him would have to be the late Yondaime Hokage. Once a few more things were discussed the group of Konoha-nin, minus Kakashi who remained behind, began heading back to the village. As they exited the valley and began jumping through the trees Kiba finally spoke, "You know there's still something bothering me." He said catching everyone's attention.

"What is that Kiba-kun?" Shizune asked.

"The guy who gave Kakashi-sensei the information was that Zen character right?" Kiba asked, in return he got nods of agreement. "Do you think he knew what happened to the village back there and wanted us to find out?"

Everyone blinked at the Inuzuka, having never considered that idea. Finally it was Shino who responded, "It is possible, perhaps he believed that we would be more capable of solving what happened there."

"How so Shino-san?" Sakura asked.

Sasuke was the one who answered the question. "I think Zen knew what happened in that village, but being a wandering ninja with an unknown background, his words might not have much backing in them. But from someone like a jonin of Kakashi-sensei's caliber or the Hokage's that might be enough to capture whoever was responsible for the village's destruction. That and also the village was in Fire Country territory and thus falls into our jurisdiction."

The others said nothing, though a few nodded, and kept jumping through the trees.

**Back with Kakashi**

"**Summoning Jutsu!"**

Soon large puffs of smoke appeared before Kakashi and when it died down facing him were his eight personal summoning ninkens. The leader, Pakkun, a small brown pug, who was currently on top of the largest of the group, Bull, waved at Kakashi. "Yo Kakashi! Been awhile hasn't it?" Then he paused and scanned the area, finally taking in their surroundings. "Why the hell did you summon us in this ghost town?"

Ignoring Pakkun's question Kakashi began to give them orders. "I want you to scout out this area, search for anything out of the ordinary in this village. I have a feeling that Root might have been involved with this village's current status."

The ninkens nodded and soon scattered around the village, their noses in the air or on the ground, sniffing anything out of the ordinary and while they were doing that Kakashi went back to examine the secret door to see if he could figure out a way in. He managed to discover that the barrier was being held by four seal markings, one at the top, one at the bottom, one on the left and one on the right. Despite finding the seal markings Kakashi was still unable to bring down the barrier due to the high level of fuinjutsu that was used on these seals. True he was experienced with seals thanks to his sensei, Minato Namikaze, but he was far from being near his level. In fact from Kakashi's point of view, the only people who he could think of that could bring down this seal were his sensei, Kushina Uzumaki and Jiraiya. But since the first two were dead that means that the third would have to be the one to bring down this barrier, which meant all Kakashi could do was examine the doorway and perhaps look for any other clues to this mysterious door.

"Yo Kakashi!" Someone yelled.

Said jonin spun around from his search to see Pakkun standing before him. "Shiba found something buried underneath a house." The ninken said before running off towards said place, with Kakashi right behind him. They soon arrived towards a gathering of the other ninkens, all surrounding what Shiba, the light grey fur ninken, had found. Once they made a pathway for Kakashi, the Copy Cat ninja saw what Shiba had discovered.

Buried deep within the ground was a wooden rectangular box that had a red dot on the lid. As Kakashi began to pull it out he saw that there was a seal tag. Unlike the ones around the door, this one was at least B-rank, meaning it should be easy for Kakashi to remove it.

But before he could even lift a finger, a kunai landed between him and his ninkens…with an explosive tag attached to it. The reaction was obvious; Kakashi and his ninkens immediately jumped back just as the tag went off, releasing a large explosion. Kakashi and Pakkun were separated from the others when they landed, with the box still in Kakashi's hand.

'Who was that?' Kakashi thought to himself when he suddenly saw a shadowy image within the smoke. He had just a few seconds to pull out a kunai when a black blur landed in front of him, a tanto in the being's hand that clashed with Kakashi's kunai. Right after the person jabbed a black rod into Kakashi's abdomen, causing the jonin to wince in pain and momentarily drop the box. This was what the man was waiting for as he now used his free hand to snatch the box in the air and jumped backwards away from Kakashi and Pakkun. Then the man lifted his head, which was covered by a hood, revealing him to be…"Zen" Kakashi muttered as he grabbed the rod impaled into his side while glaring at the man.

Underneath his mask Zen smirked, "I thank you Kakashi-san for finding this box for me. I had trouble finding it due to the seal placed on it was blocking my ability to sense it. But I knew that your ninkens would be capable of locating it."

Kakashi glared at the mask man, though winced a moment as he finally pulled out the rod and tossed it to the side. "So…Naruto being here was a lie huh? You just wanted us to find that box didn't you?"

Zen shrugged. "You're half right." He said shocking Kakashi. "I was telling the truth when I said Naruto Uzumaki was here in this village. In fact he was the one who did all this." He said the last part as he waved his hand around at their surroundings.

Kakashi was stunned that Naruto did all this, it wasn't his character, unless the Kyuubi somehow managed to influence him. But there had to be more to it then just telling him all this, something else that Zen hoped to gain from the Konoha team discovering all of this. That's when Kakashi remembered the pile of skulls that they saw earlier and the mask he found. "You wanted us to learn that Root had been here." It was not a question.

Zen shrugged. "Perhaps, perhaps not. It doesn't really matter because in the end I win." Then he turned around and prepared to leave. "Farewell Kakashi of Konoha."

But before he could even take a single step, all of the ninkens had appeared around him, ready to impale their sharp teeth into his flesh. But just as they were about to touch Zen, the man disappeared in a flash, causing the ninkens to smash into each other. Zen however watched the whole thing from above to where he had teleported too with a smirk on his face as he saw the now large pile of ninkens below him. That's when he heard the sound of lightning, causing him to turn around just in time to see Kakashi heading straight towards him, Rakiri forming around his right hand. "I won't let you get away!" Kakashi said as he thrust his attack forward.

Zen however showed no sign of fear as he lazily threw the tanto at Kakashi. At first the jonin thought that this was a desperate attempt to slow him down. But as the tanto got closer Kakashi noticed an explosive tag wrapped around the handle. 'Shit' Kakashi thought as he tried to change momentum as the tag went off, consuming both him and Zen.

"Kakashi!" Pakkun yelled when he finally got out from the pile of ninkens, just in time to see the explosion. But a few seconds later Kakashi's form could be seen coming out of the smoke, than hitting the ground while rolling backwards due to the impact. Finally Kakashi got up, revealing that he used his arms to block the blast from his face, but having his sleeves burnt off and leaving a few scratches and burns on his arms. He was panting a little as he stood up and looked up at the now clearing smoke, to see that Zen had disappeared. "Damn it!" Kakashi yelled into the air.

Unknown to the Konoha jonin, a certain spy was watching the whole thing. "So the Uzumaki isn't really here." White Zetsu said.

"**No but Zen confirmed that he was before all this happened but he clearly knows more then he's telling on. We should tell Obito about this." **Black Zetsu commented.

"Yeah and about that doorway, he might find it interesting." White Zetsu added and soon the being disappeared back into the ground.

**Konoha Hokage's Office (Two Days Later When Kakashi Arrives)**

Tsunade sighed at the reports she was given. The first news she got when the team she sent out returned minus Kakashi. She was shocked of the village's current status when the team arrived there, as well as a little disgusted of how someone made a pyramid of skulls, and curious about that someone was there recently to clean the tombstones and about the ancient doorway. She would have to send a slug summoning to deliver a message to Jiraiya who had left a while ago seeing how he was the only person so far who had a chance of bringing down the barrier.

But Kakashi's report definitely shocked her to the core; about how Zen had used them and their desire to find Naruto to his own needs, making her realize that the mask man was now a serious threat to Konoha. Still she wondered why Zen allowed them to find out that Root had been there, as well as what he wanted with the box that Kakashi found, said man was currently in her office along with Shizune and Shikaku.

"You're positive that the skulls belonged to Root agents Kakashi?" Tsunade asked as she examined the blank ANBU mask on her desk.

Kakashi nodded. "Positive, Zen confirmed this when he confronted me. Though seeing how he used us I don't know if his word is any good now." He paused for a second. "But when you add the doorway that we found, it makes sense that Danzo might send his agents there. Whatever that doorway holds it must be important to have such a strong barrier protecting it."

"Agreed" Tsunade said as she leaned back into her chair. "While I would like to make sure that Danzo doesn't know of what you discovered, I'm pretty sure that Sai informed him of it, but for now you'll have to keep the boy on your team."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "Why is that Hokage-sama? If we found evidence that would make Danzo guilty, wouldn't having one of his agents on my team hamper our progress?"

Tsunade nodded. "That is true but Danzo is not one to act rashly. Also for now you can observe Sai as he is the only link we have to Danzo's hideout and his organization. So it works for both sides."

Kakashi, Shikaku and Shizune nodded in agreement, understanding that logic. "Still why do you suppose Zen allowed us to learn of Root's involvement in the village's destruction?" Shizune asked.

Both the Hokage, Jonin Commander and assistant looked at Kakashi to see what he thought. Finally the silver hair jonin sighed before answering. "Well from what I can tell of this Zen character, he's clearly not your normal bounty hunter. After defeating an Akatsuki member and getting us to find one of Root's secret missions, I think he wants us to keep an eye on Danzo for his own benefits."

"Troublesome" Shikaku said, catching everyone's attention. "While I do believe that Kakashi-san's theory is correct, I think there is more to it then that." The Nara replied.

"How so Nara-san?" Tsunade asked.

"Well let's go over what we know about Zen." Shikaku said. "We know from the rumors about him he is clearly skilled in stealth and avoiding his opponent's attacks and clearly possess great skills to take out so many high ranking missing-nin. With that it proves he is quite intelligent and thus probably makes him good at manipulation. In other words I think along with us wanting to keep an eye on Danzo, I believe he is sending a message to us and the old warhawk."

Those words made everyone stare at the jonin commander with confused looks on their faces. "A message Nara-san?" Kakashi asked.

"Well it's probably a good bet that Zen has been watching Danzo's activities for sometime now, and probably knows more about the old man then the Sandaime did. In fact I'm almost positive about it because he probably knows that Danzo likes people with talent and might have tried to invite Zen to join his group. Though from what you've said of the man Kakashi-san, Zen is not the kind of guy to follow someone. That reason is enough for Zen to look up as much as he can on Danzo and his actions over the years, he can use it to keep Danzo off his back by threatening to reveal everything that he has done over the years to Konoha or worse other villages. Allowing us to learn of Danzo's possible involvements in Kansei Village clearly means that Zen can bring him down whenever he wants to."

There was logic and reason in that theory, of course this was Shikaku Nara they were talking about so it wasn't that surprising. "If this is true then why hasn't he already revealed Danzo's action already? Despite being crippled the old bastard is still a threat to just about everyone." Tsunade commented.

"I've been going over that too Hokage-sama." Shikaku replied. "My theory for that is this; Zen probably knows the threat Danzo has not just by skilled, but by influence. We have no idea how many sources, allies or soldiers Danzo has both within the village, the Fire Country and probably outside the country too. But as I said Zen, to me, appears to be more of a manipulative kind. Whatever his plans are, he sees Danzo as a way of furthering his plans, unless Danzo does something that could hinder it. That is why he probably collected everything that Danzo has done; to keep him on a leash and let him know that he can reveal him whenever he wants too."

That thought sent a chill down the other occupants in the room. To be able to hold such a firm grip on a man such as Danzo was…frightening. Tsunade then asked her next question. "You said that Zen was sending a message to Danzo and us Nara-san. What message do you suppose he sent to us?"

The Nara sighed. "Well obviously he possesses information that we need to know. One is that he has information on Danzo's activities. Two he knows the whereabouts of Naruto. However before we jump to the idea of capturing him, we have to make a note that Zen's reputation is well known throughout the Elemental Nations. I can assure you that many if not all the other villages would want a ninja of his caliber to join them. So in other words if we do anything hostile against Zen, such as trying to capture him, then there is a good chance he'll catch onto it and go to one of our enemy villages, such as Iwa or Kumo, and reveal who knows what he knows about our village, such as number of shinobi, strength and weaknesses in our defenses and perhaps even tell them where Naruto is. And the worse case scenario is tell them of any actions that Danzo has done to them in the past, to further their anger against us and can probably to the same thing vice versa."

If Shikaku's last theory was enough to make everyone feel a chill down their back, then this one made them all go pale. In simple terms, Zen was pretty much untouchable. If a village went after Zen, then all he would have to do is go to another village and reveal the secrets of his pursuers. Even if they wanted to find out what Zen's plans are they couldn't really do anything without worrying about Zen using his information on them against the village. In their minds, this single person was probably more of a threat then Danzo, Orochimaru and Akatsuki combined, and it was not a pleasant thought at all.

**At Zen/Naruto's Hideout**

Naruto reappeared into his underground hideout, the box under his arm. As he made his way towards a desk he took off his mask, revealing his scarred face. He sat down on a chair and placed the box gently onto the desk. After that he just stared at it for a while, now and then rubbing his hand against the top of the box gently, as if it was a newborn baby. Inside was the key for ensuring that Naruto's plan would be a success with no setbacks at all. But before he could do that, there was something else Naruto had to do.

**Naruto's Mindscape**

With his hood down and his face looking upwards, Naruto stared at the being known as Kurama who stared right back at him. Naruto thought about everything that had happened in his life so far. From when he was a child with the beatings the scorn, all the cruel things the villagers and shinobi had done to him out of misguided anger. When he first learned about Kurama from Mizuki, Naruto wasn't sure what to think, should he be angry that such a demon was sealed into him, forcing him to take the hatred of Konoha? Should he be happy that such a power was given to him to use to protect those he cared about? He wasn't really sure to do during that small time when he was a genin of Konoha.

But after meeting the Rikudou Sennin, learning about everything and Kurama's origin and name, the two began to bond with each other, becoming friends in a way. Despite his first view on the boy, Kurama always kept Naruto alive by healing his wounds he got. And, from Naruto found out about the relationship between the fox and the sage, Kurama was not an entity of pure hatred, he was a being who could not let go of his grief for losing someone he saw as a father, along with being hated because of his appearance, something Naruto could relate too. All that went on through Naruto's head as he walked towards Kurama's cage, his resolve on the decision stronger now.

Kurama also had the same thoughts in his head as he watched Naruto walked towards him. For a few seconds nothing happened, until both of them gave of foxy grins to each other. Then Naruto held out his right fist towards Kurama, who did the same thing with his, causing the two to tap fists against each other.

With that done Naruto willed the water underneath him to raise him towards the seal on Kurama's cage. There was no doubt in Naruto's eyes, only pure determination as he reached for the seal. But just as he touched the seal, Kurama yelled, **"Kit Look Out!"**

Before Naruto could react a hand appeared out of nowhere and, grabbed Naruto's and flung him back away from the cage, causing him to splash into the water. As he got back up Naruto looked up to see what happened. But when he saw the person who tossed him back his eyes widened in shock, pain and most likely anger.

Kurama was also in shock but then his eyes narrowed. **"Heh, should've expected for someone like you to do this…"** He said.

Standing between Naruto and Kurama was none other then Minato Namikaze, the Yellow Flash of Konoha, the Yondaime Hokage and Naruto's father.

**Shocking isn't it? Naruto is nothing like he was before. And now we have a confrontation between father and son. Things will be interesting next chapter no? Review**

**Wacko12**


	6. Family Reunion

**So now we get to see the confrontation between father and son! Let's see what happens. And don't forget my challenges! To learn more check out my profile page and if you're interested PM me! Read, enjoy and review**

Now if you were to see your father for the first time in your entire life, even under odd circumstances, then you would be filled with joy, grief and perhaps a little bit of anger towards him for not being there for you in your life. All of these emotions are reasonable and understandable for anyone who had to suffer the life of never having the love of a parent as a child.

However for Naruto and the way his life was, it was an entirely different matter. While he knew that his father must have left some security in the event the seal on Kurama ever got tampered with or worse broken, the second Rikudou Sennin did not expect it to be something like this. As he stared at his father who was looking a little daze, as if he wasn't fully there, Naruto felt uncontrolled rage piling up in him at the sight of the man who ruined his life, the man who left him to fend for himself within the very village that he tried to save.

As Naruto got up in front of his father Minato finally saw his son for a brief second as he got out of his daze. "Naruto, son…" He said before he was cut off by a powerful punch in the face by his own son. The impact was strong enough to send Minato flying a few feet away, landing in the sewer water hard. A few seconds later Minato recovered from the hit and looked at his son with a shocked expression, for what he did and his son's appearance, which he finally noticed in front of him rather then seeing it from his son's point of view. Gone was the blonde spiky hair that his son inherited from him, now replace by red spiky hair similar to his mother. His eyes were no longer the calming blue but now an odd silver-purple color, almost like a dojutsu. But what really shocked the Yondaime were the scars that now covered his son's face and the pure anger that it showed as well.

"Don't you ever, _ever_, call me son!" Naruto growled as he began walking slowly towards his father. Each step he took his killer intent rose to higher lengths that were even above anything that Kurama was capable of. "You have no idea of what shit you put me through for the past thirteen years? Give me one god damn good reason why I SHOULD'NT RIP YOU TO SHREDS?"

Minato winced at the cold tone that Naruto used on him. True he seen everything that Naruto had seen throughout his son's life but now, including when he joined forces with the suppose Rikudou Sennin and even betraying Konoha. In fact it hurt to see his son likes this now, full of rage, sorrow and hate. But to be looking at what he was now was…unbelievable. "N-Naruto what in Kami's name happened to you? Why are you acting like this?" Minato asked as he unconsciously began to back away from his son.

Naruto formed a mad smile on his face as he spoke, "Oh you mean the new look? Don't you like it? I figured since I'm an Uzumaki, I should at least have the hair color right?" He got no reply from the Yondaime but didn't really care. "As for these scars…well let's just say they are a reminder of my new goal in life. A goal I will see completed no matter what."

Minato felt a little bit unnerved about how his son was acting right now. But the hope that this could be fixed was still inside Minato who even now tried to speak some sense into Naruto. "Naruto what on earth are you talking about? Do you mean that insane idea that, that man told you?"

The killing intent rose a few more inches as chakra began to show visibly around Naruto. "Naruto…Naruto is dead. I have forsaken that name as it is the only ties that I have to my former life. Now…now I am Zen Uzumaki." Then a ninjato appeared in Zen's hand. "And as for you…disappear!" And he charged towards his father.

Minato had just enough time to jump out of his son's thrust. Then he pulled out one of his Hirashin kunai and blocked another strike from Zen's blade. "Son please, you must stop this! Whatever you're trying to do will bring only death! What about the people you care about? Do you really want to cast them aside?"

That made Naruto paused from launching another strike at his father when those words entered his head. He had a thoughtful expression on his face as his arms seemed to go limp against his body. For a moment of hope, Minato thought that he finally managed to reach out to Naruto. He was about to speak again when suddenly and at a speed that not even he could follow, Naruto landed a powerful punch into the Yondaime's chest, sending said man flying back a few feet.

Naruto looked up a mad and twisted look in his eyes. "If it meant that I could save this world then I would. And besides you know the old saying, 'Like father like son'."

**Somewhere in Water Country**

Deidara is not someone that would be considered calm and patient, his personality being similar to his exploding clay. However he was doing an extraordinary job of holding it in as he walked down the path besides his new, and in his opinion, annoying partner, Tobi. The newest member wore the standard Akatsuki cloak and his only unique features was the orange swirl mask that had only one eye hole that covered his entire face, revealing only his spiky black hair. The guy would always being saying stuff that would get on Deidara's nerves or mock his art. The former Iwa-nin swore that this idiot was going to get one of his clay bombs right up his ass if he didn't stop.

However unknown to Deidara, or any other Akatsuki besides Pain and Konan, Tobi was not the immature idiot that he made them believe he was. He was in fact the shadow leader of the organization and his real name was Madara Uchiha. With the death of Sasori at the hands of Zen, along with the disappearance of both the Kyuubi and Ichibi, Madara now felt like it was time for him to get personally involved in capturing the remaining bijuu.

As Deidara was about to pull out some clay the two stopped when they noticed Zetsu coming out of the ground in front of them. "Oi what the hell are you doing here?" Deidara asked, the newcomer's sudden appearance calming him down.

"We came here to warn you that there is a large group of Kiri-nin just a few miles ahead, heading towards where the Sanbi is." White Zetsu said.

"**If you attack from the sky you'll have a better chance of wiping them out and won't have to worry about interruptions when capturing the Sanbi." **Black Zetsu finished.

Deidara grunted, somewhat relieved that he now had an excuse to get away from Tobi. Wasting no time Deidara was now standing on top of a large clay bird, which began to flap its wings and take to the sky. "Oi Tobi! I'm heading to get the drop on those Kiri pussies. Try and keep up." He said and soon took off, ignoring Tobi's cries and complaints.

"W-wait Deidara-sempai! Wait for your partner!" Tobi cried in disdain until Deidara was too far away to hear. Once the cost was clear Tobi, or Madara, dropped his little idiot façade and turned to face Zetsu. "So have you something interesting to report?" Madara asked.

"Yeah we just got some info about the Kyuubi jinchuuriki Obito." White Zetsu said.

You see while only a few knew this man was Madara Uchiha, in reality, and only known to himself and Zetsu, this man was actually Obito Uchiha. Obito was once a Konoha-nin on the late Yondaime's team before said man became Hokage during the Third Shinobi World War. He was teamed up with Kakashi, a prodigy and Rin Nohora, a skilled medical-nin and also his crush, though she did not know it. Obito's current status was due to his suppose death back during the war where he was buried alive by dozens of boulders after giving his left sharingan eye to Kakashi who had lost his eye in the same place. But actually he was found and saved by the real Madara Uchiha, who managed to cheat death. An unknown time later after Obito managed to escape, he witnessed the love of his life, Rin, being killed by his own friend Kakashi. The results were instant, Obito in his grief and his desire to be with Rin joined Madara Uchiha in the old Uchiha's Great Moon Eye Plan and once he learned all he could from his ancestor, took on his name and thus moved forward with Madara's plan in his stead.

"You have? Have you discovered its location?" Tobi/Madara/Obito asked.

"Not entirely but we discovered where he was two years ago when we followed some Konoha-nin." White Zetsu replied.

"**Apparently he was staying in a small village not to far from the Valley of the End. He must have gone there to heal his wounds." **Black Zetsu said. **"It was built in this valley that is almost impossible to get through unless you know your stuff."**

"Did you find any clues on the Kyuubi's current whereabouts?" Obito asked. Inside he was cursing a little, wondering how they didn't think about checking out the surrounding area of the valley. That would've made their plan a lot easier and wouldn't be looking for the Kyuubi now.

"No the entire village was destroyed, everything was burned down." White Zetsu said. "Everyone, both the villagers and even the attackers were all killed, the latter apparently by Naruto."

Obito raised an eyebrow at that. 'Hmm, the Kyuubi's chakra might've taken over Naruto's body during that time, and made him go on a rampage. But if that was the case why didn't I sense it at the time?' Then he looked at Zetsu. "Who was the one that gave Konoha this information?"

"It was Zen, the same guy that defeated Sasori." White Zetsu replied.

Obito now believed that this Zen character might become a serious threat to his plans. He already took the Ichibi somehow and now most likely knew the location of the Kyuubi. But Obito wasn't a fool to think he could just find and capture this man. It was clear that Zen was a strong ninja, having been able to easily kill Sasori along with that his location was almost impossible to find since he was the one that found you. "I see I need time to think about how to handle this man. Did you find anything else in that town?"

"**Yeah we found what looks like the entrance to one of the Rikudou Sennin's temples." **Black Zetsu reported.

The mask Uchiha's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. Madara, the real Madara, had told him that there were some temples built by the Rikudou Sennin all over the nations but were hidden so well that none were ever found. The mere fact that one of them was discovered was unbelievable. If Obito could gain access to its contents…it would give him a great advantage. "You're positive of what you saw?" Obito asked the spy.

Zetsu nodded. "Yes, it had to the symbol of the Rinnegan. However it's almost impossible to get in. There is a powerful barrier that repels anyone that comes in contact with it. I heard that they're going to have Jiraiya to take a look at it."

"I see" Obito thought as he took all that in. "Anything else?"

"**Kakashi stayed behind to search for any clues of the Kyuubi jinchuuriki, but instead found a box that was sealed. But before he could open it Zen appeared and took the box, nearly killing Kakashi. Whatever was in it must've been pretty important." **Black Zetsu commented.

Obito nodded, wondering what Zen was planning. But for now he would have to focus on the more important matters. "Zetsu, continue keeping an eye on this doorway but not for to long. I'm going to need you to locate where the other jinchuuriki are. For now I need to catch up with Deidara before that idiot gets himself killed."

Zetsu nodded and sank back into the ground, allowing Obito/Tobi to catch up with his partner.

**Naruto's Mindscape**

"**Futon: Air Bullets!"**

Minato fired a dozen or so bullets made from compact air towards his son. Naruto however smirked as the bullets went right through his body. "My turn" Naruto said as he created a shadow clone. Then the clone began forming its own hand signs. **"Suton: Water Dragon Bullet!" **And soon the water surrounding them began to gather up to take on the form of a dragon around Naruto and his clone. Then with a wave of his hand, the clone sent the large mass of water straight towards Minato. The Yondaime tried to jump back to avoid the impact but suddenly Naruto raised his hand and said, **"Bansho Ten'in!" **And then Minato was pulled towards Naruto until he hit the large mass of water, causing even more damage to him.

A minute or so later the water began to die down, allowing Minato to have a chance to get some air into his lungs. But before he could even do that Naruto slammed into him, his knee connected with Minato's chest, causing the older blond to cough out some blood and sending him skidding across the water.

As Naruto watched Minato skidding backwards he began forming hand signs. **"Futon: Vacuum Spheres!" **And then launched a barrage of wind bullets that came from his mouth towards his father.

Minato meanwhile managed to regain his bearings just in time to see the spheres heading straight towards him. Using his reflexes he began dodging every single one of them, but two of them managed to graze his leg and arm. 'I need to get the jump on him.' Minato thought as he took out five kunai. He threw them forward towards Naruto, but not before using the jutsu, **"Futon: Great Breakthrough!"** The extra wind launched the kunai at a fast rate towards Naruto.

Naruto saw the projectiles and easily dodged them without breaking a sweat. Then he used Shinra Tensei to deflect the wind attack. However he failed to notice that one of the kunai was different from the others, with three-pronged blade instead of a single one. It was the kunai that Minato used for his famous technique the Hirashin. And as proof Minato appeared right on top Naruto with a Rasengan in his hand, intending to end Naruto and the threat he held. He didn't want to do it, to kill his own son, but he was Hokage first and father second, and right now Konoha, no the whole world, would be in danger if Naruto was allowed to carry out his plans.

With that thought in mind he slammed his attack straight into Naruto's back, hearing a few bones breaking too. But a few seconds after the Rasengan struck, Naruto poof into smoke shocking Minato. 'Wait, that was the shadow clone this whole time? Then where is the…"

"**Rasengan!"**

Before Minato could finish his thoughts he was slammed into the chest by the same attack he had just used on Naruto, except now it was the reverse, with Naruto being the one attacking him.

Minato coughed out some blood as he was sent flying, skidding across the water. But before he could recover Naruto was right on top of him with a ninjato in his hand pointing downwards. Minato only had enough time to pull out his special three-pronged kunai to stop the blade from piercing his chest.

"N-Naruto! Please, think about what you're doing!" Minato cried, trying again to get through to his son. However all Minato got was a crazed sadistic grin on his son's face as the blade got closer and closer to his chest.

Then out of nowhere, several golden chains appeared and impaled Naruto through his right arm, wrapping around it and causing him to drop the ninjato as his arm was raised upwards. Naruto's eyes widened in shock at the sudden attack, while both Minato and Kurama's on the other hand recognized the golden chains of chakra.

Following the chains they saw a woman coming out of a light. She appeared to be in her mid to late twenties, had long red hair that reached her legs, blue eyes, soft peachy skin and wore a chunin vest with gold chains coming out of her back. All three males recognized her as Kushina Uzumaki, former heiress of the Uzumaki clan, former citizens of Uzushiogakure, the Red Hot-Blooded Habanero, the 2nd Jinchuuriki of Kurama, wife to Minato Namikaze and finally mother of Naruto Uzumaki.

Minato had nearly forgotten that he had done this during the sealing. It came back to him how he sealed both his and Kushina's chakra into Naruto, or little of what they had, in case the seal ever got broken or Naruto tried to master the Kyuubi's chakra.

Kurama, who was watching the whole thing, laughed at the sight. **"Well, well, well, if it isn't my old container. Nice to see ya again Kushina, though I have to admit that I'm surprise that you would attack your own son so ruthlessly."**

Kushina, who had now come to her senses after just attacking the person on top of her husband out of plain instincts, wondered what Kurama meant. It wasn't until she got a better look at her husband's attacker did she figure out what he meant, and it merely made her heart stop. Though his physical appearance, the hair, the eyes and his face, all changed, Kushina instantly recognized the young man in front of her. "S-soichi?" She asked in shock and horror of what she had just done.

Naruto narrowed his eyes at her, mixed emotions coursing through him. He had always wanted to meet his mother, granted under different circumstances and he never held any ill will towards her either since it was his father that sealed Kurama into him not his mother. But now…what if she tried to stop him as well?

"Mother…" Naruto said in a low voice so that only Kushina could hear him. "Would you mind letting me go?"

Kushina was about to reply when Minato suddenly yelled. "No Kushina-chan! You must not let him go!"

Kushina was now confused. What did Minato mean? "B-but Minato-kun, its-"

"This isn't Naruto!" Minato shouted. "This-this Naruto…is different from the one that we thought he would be-"

He was cut off by Naruto's insane laughter, catching his parent's attention. "The one you thought I would be? The way you say it makes me think that you already decided what path I should follow." Naruto said the last part with a laugh before stopping with a frown. "You do not decide what path I take, I do. For far to long have I done what others think I should do. And don't say that I was force to follow this path, I though long and hard about this and I made my choice three years ago. And I will see it through, even if I have to kill you two." Then he looked back at Kushina who was shaking a little at what her son was saying. "Now for the last time, let go…mother." 'As long as these chains are wrapped around me, I can't use Mikado to escape.' Naruto thought in his head.

Kushina was conflicted. As a mother she could never bring herself to harm her own son, whom she had given her life to protect. On the other hand if what Minato said was the truth then as a kunoichi they had to stop Naruto. Which side should she choose? A mother or a kunoichi?

Apparently Naruto wasn't going to wait for her to make a decision. Using his control over gravity, Naruto pulled the discarded Ninjato towards him, which he caught with his left hand. Before the parents could react, Naruto cut off his right arm with a single swipe, disconnecting the arm from where it touched the shoulder along with the sleeve and chains impaled into it. Naruto didn't even let out a scream of pain.

Both parents were shocked at what Naruto just did, but also noticed that there was no blood coming out of the wound. Naruto took this opportunity to form a hand sign with his left hand and then poked his right shoulder. The result was a new right arm and hand grew out of the shoulder, good as new. "W-what?" Minato stammered as he looked at the newly grown arm. Kushina had a similar look of shock and confusion while her chains recoiled back inside of her as Naruto began flexing his arm, making sure it worked.

"You'd be surprise of what Yin-Yang Release is capable of." Naruto said in a casual tone, as if he was talking about the weather. Then he looked up at Kurama. "Now then" He formed another pair of hand signs and created three shadow clones. Without a word Naruto and one of the clones headed towards the seal, while the other two went to deal with Kushina and Minato. Snapping out of his stupor Minato shouted, "Kushina-chan, focus!" Minato cried as he charged towards the real Naruto, ignoring the clone that was running after him.

That was enough to wake Kushina back to reality as she saw the third clone heading towards her, kunai in hand. Kushina reacted accordingly, pulling out the katana strapped to her back and charged towards the clone. The clone threw the kunai at Kushina while taking out another. However the red head managed to dodge it easily and once she was close enough, got to her knees and slid underneath the clone just as it swung it's other kunai at her. Now behind the clone and wasting no time Kushina plunged her sword into the clone's back dispelling it. But instead the clone blew up, sending Kushina flying backwards with a few burnt marks on her perfect skin. 'Shit that was an exploding clone?' Kushina thought to herself as she tried to get back up, which was kind hard to do when you're still recovering from a blast.

Back with Minato, said man was putting as much chakra as he could in catching up with Naruto. He knew that he had to stop Naruto before he reached the seal but it was hard to do when your target was running as fast as you. So instead Minato added some chakra to his feet and did a high jump in the air, following it up with some hand signs. **"Futon: Wind Cutter!"** A barrage of powerful wind like blades headed straight towards Naruto and his clone. The clone jumped between the attack and the real Naruto, taking the full brunt of the attack thus dispelling but allowing Naruto to continue towards the seal.

Before Minato could launch another attack he heard a whizzing noise from behind. He just barely managed to deflect an incoming kama with his kunai. But as the kama flew into the air, Minato spotted that there was ninja wire tied to it, leading down towards the remaining clone. Moving even as fast as he ever could, the clone pulled the kama back down, impaling Minato in the right shoulder. "Gaack!" Minato shouted as he coughed up some blood before crashing on the ground and skidding away from the cage.

As he tried to get back while clutching his wounded shoulder he spotted the clone forming some hand signs. **"Katon: Dragon Flame Bullet!" **And launched a powerful stream of fire from his mouth towards Minato who was still trying to get up due to his injury. Fortunately Kushina, who managed to recover from the blast that happened a few seconds ago stood between Minato and the fire. **"Suton: Water Encampment Wall!" **She thought to herself as she performed the hand signs. Then the water around them began to stir and suddenly formed into a giant wall of water around Kushina and Minato. When the stream of fire clashed with the wall of water, the former began to sizzle out into steam as the water ultimately held it back.

Once everything died down the parents were about to launch a counter-attack when a clicking sound was heard. Kushina and Minato looked up and saw that the real Naruto had reached the lock and was slowly undoing it. One by one the lock came undone followed by a clicking noise. Soon the lock and seal were fully gone and the cage began to open wide allowing Kurama to walk out. The giant fox looked down at the Yondaime Hokage and his former container with a large grin on his face. Then he opened his mouth and began gathering chakra that formed into a purple sphere. Both Minato and Kushina recognized the tail beast bomb and looked back at Naruto who had a for-long look in his eyes.

Just as Kurama was about to fire the attack, his parents noticed a tear fall down Naruto's cheek as he whispered, "Goodbye…" Before the ball of chakra consumed them and then went black.

**Real World**

Naruto awoke, finding himself back in his hideout. He was silent for a moment before falling to his knees, tears now running down his face wildly, letting out all the emotions he kept in as he fought his parents. Even though he was firmed in his new goal, it still hurt to fight and kill the two people you always wanted to meet.

After a few more minutes of crying Naruto managed to collect himself and stood back up. Then he said to no one in particular, "Kurama how do you feel?"

"**A little sore after being in that cage for so long. But besides that I'm fine." **The fox said inside Naruto's mind. **"So what's the plan now?"**

Naruto looked down at his right arm and saw that his cloak's sleeve was missing. 'Guess whatever happens in the mindscape happens in real life.' Naruto thought to himself as he began walking towards a closet. "First off to get some new clothes." He said as he opened the closet, revealing a large variety of ninja outfits. "Then I'll go visit an old teammate of mine."

**Konoha Uchiha Compound**

For people who do not know much about the Haruno family, many would assume that the former councilmember Sakiko Haruno was Sakura Haruno's mother, due to them having pink hair. However that is not the case. Though they are related, in reality Sakiko is Sakura's aunt, the younger sister of Kizashi Haruno and the sister-in-law of Mebuki Haruno, both skilled jonin-level ninjas of Konoha as well as Sakura's parents. Kizashi is well known for his strong body and physical endurance, along with being charismatic and jovial character. His wife, Mebuki was actually part of Minato's genin team and was a skilled medic-nin, something that her daughter took after along with her father's physical strength. Unlike her husband however, she is more serious but at the same time a kind and caring woman.

In the beginning when their daughter was little, the two were aware of Sakura's infatuation with Sasuke Uchiha and while they didn't support it they didn't stop her pursuing him, as long as she remained vital and took her shinobi career seriously. As said before Mebuki was somewhat aware that her teammate, Minato Namikaze, was having a baby and knew that Naruto was said baby and though she or her husband didn't treat him badly like the rest of Konoha's populace did, they were cautious of the Kyuubi's influence it might have over the boy, but they wouldn't mind if their daughter befriended him.

However Sakiko, Kizashi's younger sister, was a different story. She was completed consumed with the desire to obtain the riches that the clans had, riches that she believed rightfully belonged to her. During her youth she tried to seduce many of the young heirs now clan heads during the Academy but all efforts failed. She even tried to seduce Minato but he ignored her advances and was mainly focus on Kushina Uzumaki. So though she did not have any children herself, she would now and then tried to influence her niece Sakura to gain Sasuke's attention, in hopes that through Sakura, Sakiko could gain the Uchiha's wealth. Though this put her into conflict with her brother and sister-in-law, who were disgusted with how Sakiko acted. When they discovered of what happened to the civilian council, they were glad that Sakiko got what she had coming to her for being so cruel and selfish. Despite her still having hold on the merchant guild she lost a lot of money due to the taxes that the Daimyo put over the citizens. But still she had the nerve to try and persuade Sakura, their daughter and her niece, into seducing Sasuke Uchiha. The results were that either Sakiko got a beating from Mebuki or one from Sakura, the latter angry that her own aunt showed such selfishness and spitted on Naruto's name (also unknown to Sakiko, Sakura and Sasuke were slowly starting a relationship, though there was no need for her to know that).

So now we bring ourselves to the entrance of the Uchiha Compound where we see one Sakura Haruno, only female member of team Kakashi as well as skilled medic-nin and an apprentice of the Godaime Hokage kicking out said aunt in a comical fashion with Sasuke Uchiha watching on. At first when she began her training she would train with Tsunade when said Hokage had free time. Either that or she would train with her old sister in training Shizune or with the doctors at the hospital. Also for the past three years she had been put in charge of checking on Sasuke's health since he was still confined to the village when not on missions, which usually meant he would be at his clan's compound practicing on his own or just reminiscing about the past. At first he was a little annoyed about having Sakura checking up on him twice a week, but after a little…convincing via Sakura's fist, Sasuke didn't complain much. As the time past on the two would sometimes spar in the Uchiha Training ground and many people were spreading rumors that wasn't the only thing they were doing in the abandon compound.

As Sasuke watched Sakiko (He had to admit that he found it hard to believe that she was even a Haruno) fly off into the distance he looked back at Sakura who was still letting out some steam. "Was it really necessary to hit her as hard as that?" He asked his teammate while looking at her ass-I mean back.

Sakura let out a large sigh before rubbing her temples. "At the moment I couldn't care if that punch sent her all the to Iwa. I really need to ask dad how he dealt with her all the times otherwise I might get arrested for murder if that idiot aunt of mine keeps bothering me."

Sasuke smirked at how calmly she said that, as if she had no problem doing such a thing to an annoying shallow person such as Sakiko. "I doubt you get in that much trouble. Hell you might be doing Konoha a favor."

Sakura chuckled at the comment before there was silence between the two. After a few seconds of awkward silence Sakura looked up at the sky and noticed the sun going down. "Well I better head towards the hospital. Shizune-sempai needs me to look over some medical reports. Ja!" And with that Sakura headed off towards Konoha hospital. Sasuke just watched her form get smaller and smaller until she was out of sight. The young Uchiha sighed before heading back into the compound, ignoring the whistling of the air. A few minutes later Sasuke arrived to his house, the Uchiha clan head house. He opened the door casually when suddenly his eyes widened, then he flipped on the lights and pulled out his chokuto and swung it to the left, which clashed with something hard.

"Not bad Sasuke, not bad at all." A voice said.

Sasuke was shocked to see that the person he had sensed was none other then Zen. Despite his new attire Zen was still recognizable because his red hair was visible and he wore the same mask. His attire was now a black sleeveless sweatshirt with the hood down. Underneath that was a dark blue cloak that went down to his knees, which matched his pants that was the same color. Strapped to his back were dual ninjato. And the shocking part was that Sasuke's blade had impacted with Zen's neck, which wasn't even injured.

"What are you doing here?" Sasuke snarled, his sharingan activated.

Zen smirked as he moved the blade from his neck. "I've come here to talk to you…about your ambitions."

**Well what do you think? Makes you wonder what will happen next chapter huh? Review**

**Wacko12**


	7. Death of the Zombie Twins

**So here is another chapter of my story. Enjoy and Review! And don't forget my challenges 'Peace' and 'Vengeance' look them up on my profile and PM me to let me know if you're interested or have questions.**

**Konoha Uchiha Clan Head House**

Sasuke Uchiha stared at the mask man known at Zen with a confused look while his chokuto was still in his hand. "My…ambition?" Sasuke asked.

Zen nodded. "Yes wasn't your ambition to kill Itachi Uchiha? To avenge your clan? Isn't that why you fled Konoha three years ago to join Orochimaru? To gain power to kill Itachi?"

Sasuke flinched at the reminder of when he tried to desert the village. Though many have dropped the event, Sasuke would now and then be given glares from some of the shinobi due to Konoha's past depression these past three years, along with the disappearance of Naruto. And then there were the documents he found in his father's office last year…

"My ambition…was to kill Itachi and avenge the clan" Sasuke said hesitantly wondering if he should be telling this man all of this. Then he continued talking, "But after what happened back then…" He couldn't say how he almost killed Naruto. "I understood that allowing my anger to control my way of life would only lead me to darkness and then death. And then when I found out why Itachi killed them…" He missed the shift in Zen's body at that. "I realized that he wanted to stop a possible fourth war because if my clan managed to do their coup then it would've taken countless lives, something that my brother…and myself, want to avoid. I'm now set on bringing the pride of the Uchiha clan back to Konoha and showing that we cannot be consumed by hatred."

Naruto was surprise at that. Rikudou Sennin had told him that the Uchiha attempted to pull off a coup in response to the unfair treatment they been getting over the years due to the actions of both Madara and Obito. Still if Sasuke no longer saw Itachi as an enemy, then there was always Obito.

"So…you no longer wish to kill Itachi?" Zen/Naruto asked.

Sasuke shook his head. "No now I wish to redeem him and have him return to the village with all charges dropped."

"And the elders?" The mask man asked.

Sasuke shrugged. "Honestly…I don't know. Sometimes I wish to kill them, to make them pay for what they made Itachi do. For now I will simply keep an eye on them and perhaps one day I can reveal all the horrible things they've done."

"And what about Obito?" Naruto asked, initiating his plan.

That caught Sasuke by surprise. "Who?"

Naruto smirked underneath his mask. "Oh come now Sasuke. You must've always had your doubts that your brother, despite being a genius, could never have taken down the whole Uchiha clan in one night."

The man did have a point. Though Sasuke admits that his brother was quite skilled, it would be almost impossible for a single man, genius or not, to take down an entire clan in one night, like the Uchiha for example. Sasuke also noticed the some of the corpses further away from the compound entrance had signs of being strangled rather then being cut down by a blade or stab wounds. He looked back up at Zen, his sharingan activated. "So you're saying that this Obito also…"

Seeing that Sasuke was slowly falling into his trap Narto sat down on a nearby chair and said, "Perhaps I should explain about how it all started."

And so for the next hour or so Naruto began a long story about Madara Uchiha, the most strongest Uchiha in history, up to the point where Madara supposedly died at the Valley of the End against Hashirama Senju. Then he began talking about Obito Uchiha, a former teammate of Kakashi Hatake and the one whose sharingan Kakashi had. That part surprised Sasuke a little since Kakashi never told him or his team where he got his sharingan. Obito had apparently been killed during the Third Shinobi World War, his right side crushed except for his face, which was heavily scarred. But he survived and was saved by the real, yet old Madara Uchiha who replaced his broken right side with a Hashirama clone body. Then a few months later Obito witnessed the death of his other teammate and love Rin Nohora, killed by none other then Kakashi Hatake. Enraged and broken, Obito assisted Madara with his plan, taking the great Uchiha's name in his stead. Finally Zen got to the part that it was Obito who caused the Kyuubi's attack on Konoha sixteen years ago, which caused the elders of the village to become suspicious of the Uchiha clan since only the sharingan can control the fox. This lead to the isolation of the clan's compound and the discrimination towards the clan as well, thus causing the Uchiha to begin planning a coup. Of course their spy was Itachi who in reality became a double agent for Konoha in order to avoid a war that could engulf the entire Fire Country. The elders minus Hiruzen decided Itachi had to wipe out his entire clan in order to avoid unnecessary bloodshed. But Obito was in Konoha as well, trying to cause conflicts within the village until he was approach by Itachi, who made a deal with him that in return for helping him kill the Uchiha Clan, Obito would leave Konoha alone.

"So basically while Itachi killed his clan in order to prevent unnecessary bloodshed, Obito killed his own kin in order to make sure that there was no other Uchiha besides him, Itachi and yourself that might threaten his plans. And once Itachi is out of the way, he can then try and recruit you."

"Recruit me?" Sasuke ask, still standing and still looking at Zen warily. "Why would he want me?"

"Because" Zen said as he looked up at Sasuke, showing his Rinnegan through his mask's eyeholes. "You are a direct descendant of Madara Uchiha."

You could hear a pin drop after that. Sasuke's face was one of complete shock and horror at the revelation of what Zen just said. "M-M-Madara is my ancestor?"

"Well actually your great-grandfather from your mother's side to be exact." Zen said casually, much to the shock of Sasuke. "Madara had met your mother's grandmother, your great-grandmother, when said woman was on a mission far away from the village. This was around the time when Madara was till capable of moving on his own without having to feed off chakra to survive. Your grandmother was one of the few Uchiha that began to share Madara's belief that the Senju was oppressing them. During her mission she was nearly killed by Iwa-nins when Madara stepped in and saved her. She was injured so he took care of her wounds, around that time they fell in love and thus she became pregnant with your grandmother. This would've naturally brought up questions but as it turned out your grandmother had been dating another member of your clan but he died a few weeks later so they couldn't really show if she was lying or not."

That was a lot for Sasuke to take in. He couldn't believe that his grandmother had been born in such a way and that he would be the great-grandson of one of the most powerful Uchiha to ever exist. But there was still one question. "Did Obito know this?" Sasuke asked.

"I have to say it is a good bet that he did if Madara was the one who trained him." Zen said. "And before you ask the reason why Obito is targeting you rather then Itachi is because you have more potential then your brother in becoming the next Madara."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Why's that?"

Zen sighed and explained. "Well along with Madara's unusual large chakra reserves, his chakra was…more sinister then any other chakra in existence, even by tailed beast's standards. This was most likely due to his emotions becoming one of rage and hate during his time fighting other clans before Konoha was formed, followed by his brother's death betrayal by his own clan. Emotions of a person do affect their chakra. That being said you were also born with very large chakra reserves, which I'm sure many people have mentioned before." Sasuke nodded at that. "And with how you were after the massacre, all angry and stuff, your emotions would have made your chakra even darker. Then when Obito was going to tell you the truth about the massacre, your emotions would even have become darker, thus making your chakra even sinister to the point that they could be compared to your great-grandfather." He paused so Sasuke could take that all in. "Itachi also had the same potential too but because of his pacifist nature after witnessing the last war he was unsuitable for the position."

Sasuke was silent now, still taking this all in. He had no idea of how well planned out the enemy's plan was. It was almost scary that Madara had been planning this for so long and now hearing that his kin were wiped out merely because they would be a threat made Sasuke's blood boil, almost like it did when he wanted to kill Itachi. "Why are you telling me this?" Sasuke finally asked.

Zen crossed his arm. "Well Obito's plans are not exactly small. We're talking about world domination-like plans. If he succeeds then the world is pretty much screwed and as much as you would like to stop him, you're not powerful enough to even scratch him. That's where I come in." Then he took out four scrolls from his cloak; one was red, the other yellow, the third crimson and the last one was black with the Uchiha symbol on it. "In my hands are scrolls that contain lightning and fire techniques that could be of great use to you, along with a summoning contract. The crimson contains a detail history of the sharingan and how to activate its next stage and the one after. Finally the last one contains the kinjutsu of the Uchiha, which I think you will find very useful." Naruto said as he tossed all four scrolls to Sasuke who caught them expertly. Before he could read them Naruto formed a few hand signs and soon a large portal opened up beside him. "This portal leads to a training dimension that I use. Its time is different then this world's, so a day in this world is a year in my training dimension. If you decide to accept this then you may enter right away and begin your new training. And don't worry about the kill switch seal on your chest, it won't activate when you enter and if you like I can remove it for you when you're done." He said calmly.

The Uchiha thought for a few moments, looking at the scrolls. Then he looked up and said, "I'll do it" With a determined look in his eyes.

Naruto smirked. 'Perfect' He thought. "Very well then you may step inside and begin at once. I will let you out tomorrow morning. And don't worry about anyone else suspecting anything, I'll deal with that."

Sasuke nodded and without hesitation walked through the portal and then watched as it closed behind him. "Everything is going according to plan." Naruto said to himself on the other side as he disappeared in a flash having to deal with other business, namely Hinata and Akatsuki.

**Somewhere in Fire Country**

Zen/Naruto soon appeared on the roof of a bounty station in Fire Country, with the entrance behind a urinal in the bathroom. 'Whoever thought of that must've been really smart and had have a high tolerance to smell.' Naruto thought as he secretly watched the battle below.

Said battle was taking place between four members of Konoha's Niju Shotai, a special platoon created by Tsunade to hunt down members of Akatsuki. The team here consisted of Asuma Sarutobi, the jonin commander, along with the chunins Shikamaru Nara, Kotetsu Hagane and Izumo Kamizuki. The Akatsuki members were Hidan from Yugakure and Kakuzu from Takigakure, who, according to the information given to Naruto by Yujin, were immortal. The information given to him from Yujin was that Kakuzu served as the treasurer of Akatsuki, which meant he and Hidan also did bounty work for the organization as well. Recently they had just turned in Chiriku's body, one of the Twelve Guardian Ninjas, for the bounty, after they captured Yugito Nii, the Kumo Jinchuuriki of the Nibi. From the looks of things from Naruto's view, the Jashin follower, Hidan, was pretty much kicking Asuma's ass until Shikamaru, ever being the smart one, managed to figure out the immortal's ritual. But just as they gained the upper hand, Kakuzu finally came in and sewed Hidan's head, which had been cut off by Asuma, back to his body. Now the Taki-nin was holding off the two other chunins while Hidan was about to finish Asuma off.

Naruto now began to think of what to do. His main targets were the two Akatsuki members, so it didn't really matter if the Konoha-nins died or not. However Naruto was very much the show off kind of person and liked having an audience. Besides that even if he did save their lives, the Konoha-nins were down with one guy too injured to fight while the other was low on chakra and stamina, so either way, Naruto would be able to get out of this in one piece. So using his space-time ninjutsu Naruto appeared right besides Hidan and kicked him out of the ritual circle just before he could impale his heart, which would've caused Asuma's death at the same time since he had used the Jashin ritual on the Sarutobi.

Everyone was shocked by the new arrival while a few pale. They had heard of Zen's exploits the past three years and seeing him now means things were about to get interesting, while worse for one side or both. Kakuzu recognized Zen from the description he got from the Bingo Books and during Akatsuki's meeting of Sasori's death. The Leader had ordered them to capture Zen to find out the location of the Ichibi and possible the Kyuubi.

He turned back to Izumo and Kotetsu and even with his mask on, they could tell that he was smirking. "Well it looks like I won't have to waste my time dealing with you small fries. Now that a big one has come this little skirmish will be interesting." He said as he threw the two chunins back towards a tired Shikamaru before retracting his arms.

Hidan meanwhile got up while cursing the entire time. "Damn fucker! When I get my hands on the shithead who did that I'll-" But his sentence was cut off when he saw Zen towering over him, his dual ninjato in his hands and pointing downwards. Hidan managed however to raise his triple-bladed scythe to block the attack. Then Hidan managed to push Zen back a few feet before trying to lop his legs off with his scythe. But the mask man merely jumped into the air and avoided the blade. The moment Zen landed Hidan did a back flip, got right back up and began engaging his opponent while Kakuzu calmly approached the pair, analyzing of how to attack while watching Zen's movements. Zen was clearly skilled with those two swords of his, as well as strong too, judging by how easily he was deflecting Hidan's much larger weapon. That and he would be constantly using different strikes with them, one moment he's doing up and down slashes, then a thrust or holding the swords downward like a kunai. His reflexes were also top notch; he would be constantly moving side to side, going around the Jashin follower attacking any openings he could find and when they were brief he would take them, causing small scratches on Hidan's body before backing away.

He was also very, very focus on Hidan, a clear sign that he blocked out his surroundings unless he had to shift his gaze. This appeared to give him more of an advantage against an opponent because that meant every single detail of Hidan was clear as day to Zen, giving him many chances to attack. 'Also allows me to do a surprise attack on him.' Kakuzu thought as he raised his right arm and then fired, using the black tendrils of the Earth Grudge Fear. But when the hand was about to touch Zen, said man swung around and used one of his ninjato to deflect it, while at the same time slashing Hidan across the face. Then when he spun around again to face Hidan, he gave the immortal man a hard kick to the chest, sending him back a few feet.

Now that he had some space he began performing hand signs. **"Omnyoton Clone!"** And suddenly another clone of Zen appeared, without even a poof of smoke coming before. A silent conversation went between the two quickly before the clone went after Kakuzu while the real Zen/Naruto went after Hidan, who was already getting up.

Meanwhile the Konoha-nins, or the ones still conscious were watching the battle in awe and shock. Just a few moments ago they, three skilled chunins and a jonin that once served as one of the Twelve Ninja Guardian force, were being soundly trampled by these two Akatsuki members, one of them an immortal. But now this newcomer was fighting them with such ease that it was almost impossible to comprehend.

Izumo looked at his partner and asked. "Do you think we should help?"

Kotetsu shook his head when he saw Shikamaru trying to get up. "No this is our chance to escape. You grab Shikamaru and I'll get Captain Asuma." He said.

"Kotetsu! Izumo!" A familiar voice shouted. The two chunins turned around and saw Raido Namiashi, Aoba Yamashiro, Ino Yamanaka, and Choji Akimichi landing besides them.

"Raido-san! Thank Kami you're here! Things have just taken a turn for the worse." Izumo said to the Tokubetsu Jonin. "Asuma-san is seriously wounded and Shikamaru used up too much chakra against these guys."

"Ino go and tend to Asuma-san!" Raido ordered the blonde head. As the Yamanaka trained medic-nin ran over to her sensei with Choji supporting her. "Kotetsu help Shikamaru up and fall back, everyone be ready! Whoever wins this fight might be coming after us."

Back with said fight, both Akatsuki members were becoming increasingly frustrated. Hidan kept trying to overpower with his weapon's strength but somehow the mask man was able to shrug it off with ease using his dual ninjato. Worse off he kept on getting hits on the immortal and though they didn't really do much, the fact that Zen found so many openings irritated Hidan to no end.

Kakuzu was no better off. Zen was moving at speeds that were almost impossible for the Akatsuki treasurer to counter, and the only reason why he didn't have cuts all over him was because of his Earth Spears hardening his body so it would be almost like armor. But the annoying part for Kakuzu was that when he was able to land a hit on the clone, it wouldn't dispel like a normal shadow clone would. His mind recalled of when the man said Omnyton clone, which stood for Yin-Yang Release. 'Could that be the difference with this clone and a normal shadow clone?' Kakuzu thought as he kept deflecting the sword strikes.

Finally getting annoyed of being on the defensive so much Kakuzu got down and tried to sweep the clone of its feet hoping to make it lose its balance. But instead the clone managed to dodge it by jumping into the air, going over Kakuzu and then lunged at the Akatsuki member with his ninjato. Kakuzu moved swiftly, using his Earth Spear to harden his body as he charged forward, right fist up. Time seem to slow down as the two were slowly getting closer to each other, both having clear shot at their target. But just as Kakuzu's fist was about to make contact with the clone's face the clone disappeared.

"Huh?" Kakuzu said as he stumbled a little due to the fact that his opponent disappeared. But before he could even begin searching, the Akatsuki gasped as a lightning infused sword popped out of his chest, right where his heart was. Kakuzu twitched for a few seconds before going stone still. With that done the Zen clone pulled out the blade, allowing Kakuzu's body to fall to the ground.

Hidan saw all this and cursed. "Oi! Kakuzu, you dipshit! Get your ass back up and fight!"

"You should be more concern about your own problems." The real Zen said as he charged Hidan. The Jashin worshipper noticed that the ninjato in Zen's right hand began to glow blue, which reminded him of how Asuma used wind chakra on his weapons. The chakra began to increase the blade's reach as it took the form of a long-sword.

"Shit!" Hidan swore as he swung his scythe at Zen who raised his wind chakra enhanced weapon. **"Futon: Guardian Long-sword!"** Zen said as he brought the weapon down on Hidan. The result was that the chakra blade sliced the Scythe in half and then cut through Hidan, bisecting his head, along with his upper right part from the rest of his body. Now disconnected from the rest of his body, Hidan's upper right half fell to the ground, followed by the rest of him. With him down Zen released the wind chakra from his sword while walking towards the living, bisected Akatsuki member. Ignoring Hidan's string of curses, Naruto/Zen bent down and pulled off his Akatsuki ring from his left hand. "Excellent…" Naruto murmured as he put the ring into his pants pocket before turning his attention back to a still jabbering Hidan, "Little shit, wait until I get myself but back together! I'll rip your fucking heart out, slow and painfully."

Again Naruto ignored his ranting as he grabbed the back of Hidan's head with his hand. "Human Path" Naruto murmured and then Hidan was silent, an empty look appeared in his eyes and drool began to seep out from his mouth. Then without a single bit of hesitation Naruto pulled his hand back and was holding on what appeared to be Hidan's soul. "Humph, so much for being immortal." Naruto murmured as he absorbed the soul.

That's when his senses went up and he looked towards his clone, noticing a black blob with a demonic tiger mask behind the clone. The clone, through the shared vision it and the original Naruto had, widened it's eyes and turned around but not before someone shouted, **"Katon: Intelligent Hard Work!"** And then the mask unleashed a powerful fireball at the clone, whose slow timing caused it to be consumed and turned to ash instead of dispelling. The reason for that is because the Omnyton Clone is actually a living being of the user, and thus has a body of flesh and has the same amount of chakra as the original, meaning it can used techniques that the user knows as well. The only way to kill it was to kill it the old fashion way.

When the smoke cleared Kakuzu was seen standing…and he was not alone. Along with discarding his Akatsuki robes, there were three monstrous beings beside him. All three of them had demonic animal like masks while their bodies were made of what appeared to be some black ooze. 'This must be the power of Kakuzu's Earth Grudge Fear that he stole from Takigakure when he defected.' Naruto thought to himself as the three monsters began taking up positions. The one on all fours and the one that did the fire attack were besides Kakuzu while the last one and the tallest one was in the front. "Hmm, I know that he has Earth Release and after seeing that last attack he has Fire Release. So let's see what these other two can do." Naruto mumbled as he created five shadow clones and then instructed them to charge forward at an astonishing speed. Three headed towards the tall monster while the other two ran on both sides. Acting quickly Kakuzu formed some more hand signs, **"Raiton: False Darkness!"** Then the tall monster opened its mouth and fired several bolts of light towards the three clones. The clone in the middle jumped upwards while the two other clones raised their hands. The moment that the lightning touched them, instead of electrocuting them they were absorbing the electricity into their hands. The third clone who had jumped into the air then did a dive towards the lightning monster, landing behind it and then jumped onto its back. Before anyone could question what it was doing, the clone exploded, taking the monster with it in one giant explosion. This caused Kakuzu to groan in agony and clutch his chest as he fell to his knees, as well as making the other two monsters moan in pain.

Naruto smirked at this. "Two hearts down, three to go."

From their hiding position, Aoba and Raido watched in shock and awe at how the battle was going. Just moments ago the man known as Zen was facing off both Akatsuki members, one of them that almost killed Asuma, a skilled shinobi. But already Zen managed to take him down with no problem. Then he managed to wound the other one, seeming to have killed him, but instead the mask Akatsuki got back up and somehow summoned three monsters, one of them just being destroyed. And even though he wore a mask, Zen appeared to be completely relaxed and not tired in the least.

"How the hell can someone who is facing two S-rank missing-nins be so calm?" Aoba asked.

"It doesn't matter we have to be ready to move in and capture whoever wins, so be ready." Raido said as he pulled out a black katana.

Back with the battle between Naruto and Kakuzu, the former's clones were still charging towards the last two monsters that had gotten into a defensive position between them and the still recovering Kakuzu whose head gear and mask had fallen off, revealing his long black hair and stitched mouth. The one on four legs opened its mouth and fired a powerful blast of wind that managed to dispel two of the clones while the other one launched a barrage of fireballs at the last one, finally hitting it and dispelled it. By then Kakuzu had recovered from losing his second heart and glared at Zen who was protected by his two remaining clones. "Now you're mine." The former Taki-nin growled as the four-legged monster took to the air while the other charged forward. Naruto's clones got into a defensive position when suddenly two fists popped out of the ground and struck them right in the face, hard, and dispelled them. Naruto however, remained calm as he saw that the arms were from Kakuzu who must've sent his arms underground to attack the clones. Now without the clones Naruto was wide open.

"Time to finish this." Kakuzu muttered as he formed some hand signs. **"Futon: Pressure Damage!"** And then the flying monster fired another blast of wind towards Naruto while the other monster fired a large stream of fire. Calmly, Naruto raised both his hands at both incoming attacks. Then his arms began to shift and looked more bionic, with holes appearing on the palms. "Asura Path" Naruto murmured and then both arms fired powerful blasts of chakra. The blast engulfed both of Kakuzu's attacks and the monsters, obliterating them from existence.

Kakuzu roared in agony as the loss of two more hearts struck him that he collapsed on the ground, painting heavily as he tried to breathe. Suddenly Naruto was standing before him, staring down at him with his Rinnegan. Without a word Naruto bent down and took Kakuzu's ring from his finger. "So much for the Immortal Duo." Naruto said as he unhooked his right arm, revealing a cord with missiles attached. "Goodbye" And then Naruto fired the missiles right at Kakuzu, obliterating his body entirely.

The smoke soon cleared and all that was left of Kakuzu was a giant crater with some blood on the ground. Naruto scanned the area to make sure that Kakuzu was indeed dead since one could never be too careful. Once he was sure that the Akatsuki member was gone he prepared to leave…until a flock of crows heading towards him, making blinding Naruto's vision. 'Hmm must be one of the Konoha-nins. I thought that they retreated long ago.' Naruto thought as he enhanced his vision and located Aoba on top of the bounty station's roof.

That's when Naruto noticed something in the flock of crows. It was hard to see because the object was black and blended in well with the crows. As the object got closer Naruto saw that it was Raido, wielding a Kokuto, a black blade that appeared to have poison on it. 'A desperate attempt to capture me huh?' Naruto thought as he allowed the blade to pass through him, much to Raido's shock and was even more shock as Naruto suddenly disappeared. "What the hell?" Raido cried as Aoba stopped his jutsu with a confused expression as well.

Far away, Zetsu appeared out of the ground a shock looked on his face. "I can't believe that both Kakuzu and Hidan were killed so quickly." White Zetsu commented.

"**Zen even took their rings. Nagato and Obito won't like this one bit."** Black Zetsu added as he sunk back into the ground, heading towards the others to inform them of this incident.

**So what do you think? I thought this chapter was very good and showed more of a manipulative side of Naruto don't you think? Review**

**Wacko12**


	8. Painful Past Part 1

**And now we find the truth of why Naruto is the way he is now. Read, Enjoy and Review! And the reason I'm doing this now rather then later like I planned is because people are getting curious and are commenting about how Naruto acts.**

**Ruins of Kansei Village**

Naruto walked silently through the ruined village as he headed towards the cemetery having just released Sasuke from his private dimension as promised. When Naruto sensed the improvements that his former rival gained, he was mildly surprise since Sasuke was always considered a prodigy. Back to the present, his Rinnegan helps him see some remnants of chakra on the ground, and they were not his but they did look familiar. 'So that pathetic excuse of a godfather was here huh?' Naruto thought as he continued towards the cemetery at the same pace. He had one of Yujin's molecular clones to remain in the village to keep an eye out for anyone that came here. The clone had scattered into the air in order to remain undetected. When Naruto arrived the clone had whispered into his ears that someone had been here but left a few hours ago, and judging from what it saw, the clone figures that he won't be back until a few days later.

This was okay for Naruto as it allowed him to check the barrier to see if Jiraiya did anything that might make it collapse, and so he could strengthen it more. The barrier around the door was Uzumaki design and was made to protect the clan's most treasured secrets, which is why no one, not even Minato or Jiraiya, knew about its functions, it was so good that the Uzumaki clan wanted to keep its design a secret from outsiders.

He also knew that Zetsu, the spy of Akatsuki, had also seen the door and likely told Obito about it. However it would be awhile until the Uchiha turned his attention of getting through the barrier so there was little to worry about. But the reason Naruto was here was something else entirely…he was here to pay his respects since it had already been three years since that event. As he kept on walking, that event, the people, everything to when he started on this path to now was still fresh in his mind.

**Flashback:**

**Three Years Ago, Hideout**

"From this day forward, you shall be the next Sage of the Six Paths."

The moment those words left the Rikudou Sennin's mouth he began to disappear, shocking both Naruto and Kurama. But Yujin remained and was not shocked at what just happened as the lights turned on, revealing the room that Naruto was in. It was large and shaped like a dome. The walls were a light brown with markings on them that glowed blue. Naruto saw several doors to the right and left and one behind him but in front of him was a throne of some sort…with someone sitting on it. Like the Sage this man was also old, with wrinkles on his face and his arms and legs very thin that you could see the bones a little. He wore a simple blue cloak with a hood down. He had spiky light, pale red hair, with two bangs going down the side of his face and a ponytail behind his head that went down to the man's back. His right arm was covered in bandages as well what appeared to be dozen of seals. In his hand was a wooden staff that appeared to be for walking with a large round top with a swirl carved into it. With his head still down the man said, "Well it looks like he approved of you Naruto. Though I had little doubt that he would."

Naruto heard Kurama rumbling inside of him. **"That voice…I know that voice."**

"It seems that the fox recognizes me." The man said as he got up. "I am not surprise since I was the one who taught my sister of how to seal him inside of her…along with other events too." He commented raised his head, revealing his eyes, which were…

"What the!" Naruto cried as his eyes widened in shock as he looked at the elder man whose eyes were the same as the Sage's. "How the hell do you have Rikudou-jiji's eyes?"

Yujin let out a loud laugh at this, finding it funny how Naruto just referred the greatest man in history as 'jiji'. The other man just shook his head and then stared down at Naruto intently, making the blonde feel a little nervous. "I am your senior, your elder, your teacher and your kin. I am a legacy of our clan, the Uzumaki clan." He said as he watched Naruto's eyes widened. "Sadahiko Uzumaki, Shodaime Uzukage as well as the Nidaime Rikudou Sennin and what you saw was just a memory of the sage that he left here in order to judge if someone was worthy of entering this place."

Naruto was speechless at what he just heard. He had a clan all along? This guy was a Kage and the third Sage? What was going on here? "W-wait, I thought the Sage said I was…" Naruto began to say before he was interrupted.

"That you were his reincarnation correct?" Sadahiko said before shaking his head. "He's the kind of guy who liked using cryptic messages then just saying it bluntly. That and since you past his test he really couldn't explain it all, but I will. Basically our clan was one of the three clans founded by one of the children of the Rikudou Sennin, thus we inherited some of his special features, which later became or kekkei genkai."

Naruto's eyes widened. "Clan…kekkei genkai?" Suddenly he flinched in pain as he unconsciously grabbed his right arm, which the pain was originating from. It was then that he realized that the bandages on his body felt different, a lot firmer than normal bandages were supposed to be.

Sadahiko noticed this little interaction and sighed. "It seems that your body is still adapting to the changes that are happening to it. But I do admit that the progress is happening at a much faster rate than I originally predicted."

"C-c-changes?" Naruto managed to let out before wincing again in pain. "What are you talking about?"

Sadahiko sighed before explaining. "Apparently throughout your childhood numerous seals were placed on your body, hindering your growth, both physically and mentally and a few were either messing up your chakra control or placed to keep you in your place. Of course being an Uzumaki and a great seal master I removed them all however there were some…setbacks due to doing this."

Naruto waited for a few seconds for him to explain but the answer already came to his head, which was unusually for him since he wasn't the brightest person in Konoha. "My body got messed up didn't it?" He finally said.

The old Uzumaki nodded. "Yes due to the fact that those seals were placed on you at such a young age, which at that time was still developing, your body became use to them, along with the mental restrains on you as well. That is why you were in a coma for so long, in order for your mind to readjust. Your body however began to change to the size it should've been at your age but the growth was happening so fast that your skin, muscles, bones and organs began to literally rip apart. In order to stop your body from destroying itself I had to inject you with Demonic cells that I acquired after a certain fight I was in." He said the last part as he held up a vial. Inside of it was a mix of what appeared to be black and white liquid that moved and mixed together. "Though they will help your body adjust I'm afraid that you will have some visible scars on your body later on."

Naruto stared at it in curiosity when he suddenly heard Kurama rumble. **"Demonic cells? I remember Jiji mention something about that. Apparently that's the blood of the Juubi as well as its descendent, the Kishin (Human Heart)."**

"I assume that Kurama recognizes this doesn't he?" Sadahiko replied, to which Naruto nod his head in response. "Demon Cells are well...cells of a demon to be frank. The Kishin had the ability to collect and gather natural energy around them to be used as techniques or weapons. Normally trying to inject Demon Cells into a human body would be impossible but as I said before our clan's kekkei genkai is based off what our ancestor, the third child of the Sage inherited from his father. If you want to know then you must listen carefully."

Then he summoned a chair out of nowhere and sat down besides Naruto while Yujin just remained where he was. "As you already know the Sage had two sons before Otome-sama. Their names were Dengen, who would found the Uchiha Clan, and Aishi, who would found the Senju Clan. Dengen was blessed with his father's eyes, powerful chakra and spiritual energy. Aishi was blessed with his father's body, lif force and physical energy. And finally Rekishi, our clan's founder was given his father's blood, making it stronger then other people's blood, unique chakra, in which case allowed the Sage to use Omnyton to its fullest, longevity, vitality and the most important of them all his mental energy, which allowed Rekishi-sama to learn his father's most powerful arsenal: Fuinjutsu, something that our clan would be known for."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "How can Fuinjutsu be a powerful weapon?" He asked, not seeing how making seals would be such a force to be reckoned with.

Sadahiko sighed. "Think about it. With seals you can do almost anything; seal numerous weapons within a single scroll, transport objects or people, use them as shields against ninjutsu, as armor or even capture powerful creatures such as the bijuu. But for us because of our mental energy, thus giving us a stronger amount of creativity, we could design seals that could take out armies or create an island. And creativity is a major part of using Omynton as well."

Naruto nodded now, taking this all in easier since the pain had gone away and was now lying back down on the bed. Turning his eyes towards the elder Uzumaki he asked, "So now what?"

"For now you shall continue resting so your body can fully adapt to its new form." Sadahiko said as he turned around. "I shall be busy preparing things for your training once you're ready while Yujin continues scouting the outside world so we do not remain in the dark."

Naruto wanted to argue that he was ready to train now but his body felt very sore and weak. So without even acknowledging what Sadahiko said Naruto laid back down on the bed and closed his eyes, drifting off back to dream land.

Three weeks had passed and Naruto was now able to move on his own having adjusted to his body thanks to his Uzumaki fast healing ability. During the first few days, when Sadahiko said he could try and move around, Naruto had difficulty walking because he wasn't use to the new structure of his body that the Demonic cells had given him. Yujin also advise not to put to much pressure on his body since in the beginning they were still recovering their strength but his physical strength would soon increase to a level equal to Tsunade's. When they finally did Sadahiko began to teach Naruto several fighting styles that would suit Naruto's body along with the Uzumaki's fighting style Shinken (God Fist). Sadahiko wanted for Naruto to first to increase his stamina and have his body be more ready once they finally start working on ninjutsu, along with a larger chakra reserve.

It was during the end of the second week that Naruto noticed a change. His eyes, which were once dark blue were now a dark purple with a small black dot pupil. Of course Naruto had brought this up with Sadahiko who merely explained that his Rinnegan was beginning to appear. However the process was going slowly due to the amount of seals that blocked it off at first. He reassured Naruto that the more the young Uzumaki trained then the quicker his Rinnegan would fully come out.

Another thing that Naruto had discovered that the lair they were in was actually an ancient yet advance city buried deep underground, with passageways extending to many areas of the Shinobi world. All the doorways were hidden thanks to powerful sealing barriers that not only protected the doors but would cast a genjutsu on whoever got at least ten miles near it that they wouldn't see it or detect it. He asked Sadahiko who or what had built this place but the older Uzumaki merely said that he would explain in due time. The city also was powered by chakra that was absorbed by the planet, a type of chakra known as natural chakra. This allowed Sadahiko to use techniques when traveling through the city. The city itself was built in various ways in different areas. In fact, it was made up of six layers. The first layer, the outer layer, was the entrance into the city, the doorways in the outside world. When the doors opened they would lead through a large room and then to large gates. The second layer were numerous large tunnels with doors attached to the walls that led into various rooms. The third layer was really a large wall covered in ancient markings and seals that acted like a second defense of the city within. On the wall were balconies connected by hallways inside the wall. The wall was actually made of twenty thick walls. The fourth layer appeared as an actual city, with towers built everywhere and connected by chakra teleports or bridges, making it look like a maze almost. The fifth layer were dozens of large towers that were set up to look like a forest. Inside each tower were numerous libraries; armories, pictures and all had floating constructs that were also powered by chakra. The towers, since they reached the top of the ceiling, could be used as outposts too. The sixth and final layer was where Sadahiko reside, using it as his main base. It was a round sphere that was the size of a village. Inside was also like a maze, with various walkways and rooms, filled with different items for different purposes. At the center was the main room, the control room of the entire underground city.

On the fourth week Sadahiko called Naruto over after the blond had just finished his spar with Yujin. "Naruto" Sadahiko said in wise tone as he looked down at his clansman. "I believe now is the time that you go outside into the world and explore a bit in order to see the improvements that you've completed so far. However do not wander to far, in fact I've already chosen a place where you can stretch your limbs."

Just as he finished his sentence a door glowed a few feet away from them. "This door leads to a valley that is usually empty save for the wildlife. There is however a village near a more flat surface within the valley."

"Can I go and talk with them?" Naruto asked. Having been living in this underground city for the past couple of days Naruto was eager to see some other people.

Sadahiko stared at him for a moment before nodding his head. "You may enter the village and interact with them, however you cannot tell them where you are from or about this place. And be sure to be back here before the sun sets, understood?"

Naruto nodded with a smile. "Got it Sadahiko-hiijiji" And with that he took off followed by Yujin.

During his recuperation Naruto had learned that Sadahiko was in fact his great grandfather from his mother side. He and his wife Chinsei Uzumaki had a son, named Osamu Uzumaki and he married a woman named Yuga Uzumaki. Osamu and Yuga had a daughter who was none other then Kushina Uzumaki. Since Kushina was a full-blood Uzumaki, Naruto's Uzumaki side is stronger then his Senju and Uchiha side.

And if that didn't surprise you then this will; Naruto was related to not one, not two but three Hokages with Minato Namikaze being his father, Tobirama Senju, who married Amai Uzumaki, they had a son, Dosei Senju and he married an Uchiha female (A surprise to Naruto), Yuga Uchiha who was also the long lost daughter of Izuna Uchiha, younger brother of Madara Uchiha, and his secret lover Namida Uchiha. Since it would've been a danger for Minato if others found out about him having both Senju and Uchiha blood in him, Minato was given the surname Namikaze instead. Thus that made Sadahiko Naruto's great grandfather along with Tobirama Senju and Izuna Uchiha with Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha being his great granduncle, as well as making him a relative of Tsunade. 'I guess that really does make her my baachan in a way.' Naruto thought at the time. In either way he was really 60% Uzumaki, 20% Uchiha and 20% Senju, the clans of the three children of the Rikudou Sennin were all in him, Naruto.

A few minutes later Yujin and Naruto had both exited the door and were now facing a large narrow valley, not as impressive as the Valley of the End but still pretty interesting. Naruto was now wearing a short brown cloak with the hood over his head so people would have some trouble seeing him. And he still had bandages around his face, to hide the scars that resulted from the body growth that releasing the seals had caused. But Naruto ignored them, his focus that he was now finally outside of that underground lair.

Yujin formed a hand sign and slowly but painlessly, another him, except with blue skin, began to detach itself from his body and slowly into the earth. Naruto watched as the clone slowly sank into the earth before looking back at Yujin. "I've sent a clone to watch you while you're exploring for safety purposes. Sadahiko-sama still has work for me to do." Yujin said before he faded into the wind.

With Yujin gone Naruto began jumping from rock to rock as he explored the valley. Though he didn't really see anything despite the usually wildlife and plants, Naruto felt good about seeing the sky again and not just an image of the sky in the underground lair, which Sadahiko assumes that it's was due to the lair's special energy. But he was able to notice that his body felt stronger then before and now that he was out in the open he could see the difference in his size. Judging from his new height he might be even a few inches taller then Sasuke.

His musings were cut off when he heard several voices up ahead. Slowing down until he was hiding behind a rock, Naruto saw that the voices were coming from a bunch of kids, probably from the village that Sadahiko had mentioned. They were playing on a flat plain of land with a few rocks to climb on while a pile of rocks surrounded the area like a fence. From what Naruto could tell most of them appeared to be five or seven while they were some sitting on the sidelines, probably teenagers that were watching after the younger kids. They all wore simple clothing like T-shirts and shorts to plain looking kimonos. Naruto couldn't help but smile a little at the carefree faces on the kids as they played without a worry in the world, something that he never had when he was a child, with the fear of being hurt by the adults in the village, especially on his birthday.

His thoughts were cut off when he heard one of the kids shouted as a ball she was playing had bounced off the rock fence and was rolling down the hill. Before she could yell any further and blur flew above her, dropping her ball at her feet while everyone watched in awe as the object landed in the middle of the field. He looked around and saw that everyone's eyes were on him, all of them showing looks of awe and curiosity.

Turning his eyes onto the girl, who had brownish red hair, brown eyes and wore a red kimono, Naruto smiled and handed her the ball. "Here you go." He said cheerfully.

Snapping out of her state of shock, the girl smiled in return and took the ball gently. "Thank you mister!" She exclaimed as she stepped back and soon she along with the other younger children began to play once more. Naruto had a soft smile on his face before turning his attention towards the older ones. The one at the front was a boy, about his height with light messy brown hair, with tan skin and brown eyes. He, like all the others wore simple clothing as well as sandals.

Seeing how they were looking at him suspiciously, Naruto said, "Sorry about the sudden arrival. I just noticed that the girl's ball was about to go over the ledge and didn't want her to hurt herself trying to get it back." He said with a sheepish grin.

The boy was silent for a moment before relaxing his figure, a signal to the others that it was all right. "That's okay, mom keeps telling Misho not to bring anything here with her worried that she might lose it and get hurt. I'm Kotai by the way." The boy said as he raised his right hand.

Naruto smiled and took the hand, shaking in gently. "I'm Naruto, nice to meet ya." Sadahiko had taught Naruto the importance of not revealing one's surname to others, especially those you just met. He explained that it was something that was done during the Era of the Warring States, for fear of retaliation if two members of different clans were to meet outside of the battlefield.

Kotai took a quick glance of Naruto's appearance, probably trying to deduce where the blonde came from. Finally he said, "I'm going out on a limb and saying that you're not around from here." He didn't say it in a demanding tone, more like a curious tone, as he just wanted to know for his friend's sake.

Naruto just smiled as he replied, "Yeah my family live a mile or so away from the valley near the border and so sometimes I come here to go exploring around here."

Kotai nodded when suddenly a girl behind him, who had long brown hair, blue eyes and wore a red kimono said, "Are you a ninja?" She asked curiously.

"Yes I am" Naruto said while puffing his chest out. "My grandpa was a ninja and so taught me some ninja skills when he left with my family." He lied partially. Sadahiko had drilled the arts of deception into Naruto and though while he agreed lying was not always the best thing, it was better then revealing yourself to an enemy or bringing in bystanders.

They were about to ask some more questions when suddenly they heard someone shouting. They looked and saw that it was another person, an older man by the looks of it, waving at the group of kids. "Guess its time for us to head back." Kotai said as some of the older kids were rounding up the younger ones. "Hey you want to come with us and hang out at the village?" Kotai asked Naruto.

Naruto was about to reply when he caught something out of the corner of his eye. It was Yujin's blue clone, coming out halfway from the top of the valley's wall. The clone sent a signal that it was time to head back. So with that Naruto looked back at Kotai and gave a sheepish smile. "Sorry but my parents didn't want me to head out to far. Maybe I can visit another time." Naruto offered.

Kotai seemed to buy it and replied, "Sure our village is down that way where the ground is flatter and more fertile for growing." He said as he pointed behind him, where indeed Naruto could see that the ground was more smooth then bumpy with rocks covering it. "Cool, well see you guys later!" Naruto said as he jumped back towards the underground lair. As he headed back he heard the girl, Misho, yell, "Thanks again mister! Come back soon!"

Naruto just waved back with a smile on his face as he kept jumping through the valley. As he did the molecular clone followed behind him through the rock.

An hour later after Naruto had returned to the lair, said boy was jumping over large pillars or towers of the ancient city, exploring the rest of the place before Sadahiko needed to see him. The more and more he saw he thought of what a great place this would be for people that were homeless or survivors of clans that were scattered across the nations. It was large, hidden and safe and under the right guidance, everyone could live in peace, never quarrelling over matters, appearances or abilities. 'Maybe I should bring this up with Sadahiko-hijiji.' Naruto thought as he took a break on top of the largest tower he could find and scanned the rest of the city.

After using a teleport seal Naruto arrived at the entrance of the large sphere, where coincidently Yujin was, instructing some of his clones to carry some items towards the armory or something. "Hey Yujin!" Naruto shouted as he walked up to said person.

Yujin turned around and saw Naruto approaching. After giving out some last orders to his clones Yujin put his full attention onto Naruto. "Naruto-sama, is there something you seek?"

"Yeah I'm looking for the old man about an idea I had." Naruto said as he watched the clones turned a corner. "Do you know where he is?"

Yujin was silent for a moment before responding. "Sadahiko-sama is in the archives. He doesn't wish to be disturbed but wanted me to tell you that once he is done he will begin your training in Omnyton."

Naruto eyes widened and then he jumped into the air. "Yes! Finally, I've been waiting forever to learn that stuff!" He said, momentarily forgetting about his thought.

Yujin nodded, showing no emotions on his face. "Yes but it might be awhile. He gets very absorbed into his studies and usually spends a long amount of time in the archives."

Naruto pouted at that, knowing that he would have to wait for hours until Sadahiko was done, like Naruto usually had to. Then he asked, "By the way Yujin, why is the old man always in the archives? When I first saw him in there he had books all around him and looked almost dead to the world."

Yujin sighed, fearing that this question would come up. Making a motion to follow him the two were soon walking towards the training room. "Sadahiko-sama has always had an interest in history, whether it was about battles, clans, people, items or locations. It helped him greatly during the Warring Era, using his knowledge combined with his great powers to fight his enemies. However ever since arriving here Sadahiko-sama has been locking himself in the archives a lot of times, researching ways to guide the world to peace."

Naruto raised an eyebrow at the reason. "I know that hijiji was really into bringing peace but the way you make it sound like it's like the old man is addicted to it."

Yujin sigh. "While I have to agree with you there you must remember that you and Sadahiko-sama came from two different time periods. When Sadahiko was a child clans would always be fighting each other, for profit, land, superiority or revenge. That time it was different then the three Shinobi World Wars, where with those they were somewhat organized in the way of who your enemies were. But during the Warring Era, everyone who could use jutsu, wield weapons and fight were sent to the battlefield, even children who were only seven." Naruto's eyes widened in horror at the last part of the sentence but continued listening. "Actually the usual life span of a ninja or civilian was thirty years, but dropped a lot due to the death of children. Sadahiko-sama, though while he did fight, only did it to protect those he cared about and greatly disliked the death of children. He also knows that peace wouldn't be an easy task to achieve, due to old grudges and human greed. So in his own way he is trying to create peace by…rewriting history."

"What does that mean?" Naruto asked.

"Well the Rikudou Sennin was very powerful, capable of doing many feats with most of them not even recorded anywhere but here. If you read the books here then you would have to agree that the sage was basically a god, like controlling space and time, life and death." Yujin explained

Naruto was pretty stunned by the abilities of the Rikudou Sennin but he still seemed to doubt it. "Is that even possible?"

Yujin shrugged, "The sage wasn't really a normal human and the same goes for Sadahiko-sama. Both of them have done pretty extraordinary things in their lives that makes the impossible possible." Then he stopped talking when he looked up. "Speaking of Sadahiko-sama…"

Naruto looked forward and saw that said man was standing next to the entrance of the training room. He had an impassive look on his face as he stood there. Deciding to leave the two Uzumaki males be, Yujin bowed and faded into the ground. Sadahiko then said, "Come Naruto, training awaits."

"Hai hijiji!" Naruto exclaimed and ran up to join the ancient Uzumaki who opened the door into a large white room, also known as the training room. After Sadahiko closed the door the two made their way further into the room. As they did the older man was speaking, "I've decided that after seeing the progress you've been making with physical training and taijutsu, I would teach you Omnyton techniques, along with our clan's Maho Fuin."

At the mention of that Naruto's eyes lit up! Sadahiko had told him many times of how powerful his Yoton, Inton and Omnyton techniques were and combined with his fuinjutsu and Maho Fuin (Magical Seals). It was a style created and to used only by the Uzumaki clan, forming seals out of nowhere and using different types of elements. It was one of the reasons why the Uzumaki clan was so feared

The two soon stopped walking and Sadahiko made a quick hand sign. The white room began to shimmer and then formed in a flat terrain with mountains and hills spread out. Once that was done Sadahiko turned around to face Naruto and began explaining, "Omnyton is basically the origin of how unique abilities are formed, but at a lesser degree. You have seen many such abilities like genjutsu, medical ninjutsu, the Nara's shadow abilities and the Akimichi's size techniques. Even your mother's chakra chains and your shadow clones are a lower formed of Omnyton. Another thing about Omnyton is that when a person is born, sometimes their brain creates a unique ability within their bodies, which connects with their chakra or blood. In some cases this can be considered a Kekkei Genkai however those are genetic abilities, so mostly I'm referring to techniques known as Hiden. However if one has an open mind and good imagination then they can do anything if they have the chakra and stamina to do it. This is how the Uzumaki clan created so many of our powerful seals, it's because we had open minds and combined with our unique blood we can created numerous seals that can be considered impossible." Are you following me so far?"

Naruto nodded and Sadahiko continued. "However there are a rare few, such as the Sage and myself, who can utilize Omnyton into any form that we choose. Any techniques that use Omntyon must be released from the person's body or used through the body. There is however, one difference between the Sage and I. He was able to create something, even life from nothing. While I cannot create life, I can create things from something that already exists, like my body, the ground, sea, metal and even the wind. Watch" Sadahiko turned around and formed two hand signs. **"Omnyton: Spire of Magnificent Crafts!"**

Suddenly the ground began to shake violently and before Naruto could even ask, multiple twisted black and grey roots began to pop out of the ground and go higher and higher into the air. The roots began to wrap around one another, margining as well, while shifting there shapes. Spikes began to protrude from them, balconies formed with exotic designs on them along with windows too. Statues hanging from the sides of the spire popped out and just as it started it had ended. The results were a large black and grey spire that was as tall as the Hokage Monument; it looked both inspiring and terrifying.

"Holy crap…" Naruto murmured as he continued to stare at the spire.

Sadahiko didn't really pay his creation any attention but instead looked back at Naruto. "When Hashirama discovered that he possessed the Mokuton ability, I trained him to utilize it by using this method and was able to use his chakra into a source of life, thus allowing him full mastery of Mokuton."

By then Naruto's eyes were literally sparkling with excitement. "Alright so what are we waiting for? Lets start training!" The young Uzumaki yelled.

"Patience!" Sadahiko yelled, his voice causing the room the quake and thus silencing Naruto. "In order to be at the top one must start at the bottom. That means we shall first start with the first step of controlling such power. First we'll work on your chakra control, then elemental control, ninjutsu, then taijutsu, followed by elemental bending a combination of chakra nature and taijutsu. After that we will begin to work on mastering the Rinnegan's power and finally Omnyton. This will not be an easy task and you will face many life-threatening experiences during this training and since time and space is different in here then in the outside world it will be even more extensive, understood!"

For that moment Sadahiko saw a brief look of doubt in Naruto's eyes. But that all changed in a second with a look of determination through those eyes of the Uzumaki, something that Sadahiko had seen many times before. "Let's do it." Naruto murmured.

**End of Part 1. I was planning on putting everything all in one chapter but I wanted to post this quickly! Review and don't forget to check my profile for my challenges! PM me if you're interested.**

**Wacko12**


	9. Painful Past Part 2

**Second part of Naruto's past and the actions that led him to his current position and a deeper in look into his and Sadahiko's plans. And some other characters we'll be making appearances as well. Read, enjoy and review!**

**Somewhere in the Land of Earth**

Yujin quietly appeared out of the ground, wearing a black cloak with the hood over his head. Before him, hidden inside a rocky valley, were the ruins of a once glorious temple, with bodies littered on the ground in front of it. "So my clone's message was correct." Yujin mumbled to himself before heading to inspect the battlefield. The first body he approached was a grey skin version of himself except it was dead. Upon further investigation Yujin realized that the clone was killed by several slashes and then impaled in the chest. "Whoever did this is very powerful if they could break through one of my clones when they were using Hard Skin, even with chakra." Yujin mumbled as he examined other bodies.

The second one he came across was an ordinary man. The person wore a black shirt underneath a light chest plate along with arm and knee guards. Then there was a sword a few inches from his right hand. "Definitely shinobi" Yujin said as he looked at the rest of the body and frowned when he looked at the forehead. "But no headband." He muttered as he scanned the rest of the bodies. 'Are these missin-nins? Did they come here by accident hoping to raid the temple? Or did someone discover this place and hire them?' Yujin thought as he walked towards the temple entrance. 'Or were they from a village but the survivors took their headbands in order to avoid suspicion?'

Upon reaching the gate, which the doors had been blown off, Yujin placed his right hand onto one of the pillars nearby. When he touched it the symbol of the Uzumaki clan appeared and glowed and soon more lines came from the symbol throughout the pillar and then made a path through the temple to whatever location only Yujin knew. After a minute or so Yujin's eyes widened and he pulled his hand back, causing the symbol to disappear. "Whoever did this manage to bypass almost all of the security placed inside but it is unsure if they got what is inside. I'll have to go in and investigate to make sure."

"HALT!"

Yujin paused at what he was doing and turned around. Coming out of the shadows was a group of Iwa-nins, jonin to chunin level from what Yujin could guess. Some of them had shocked looks on their faces as they stared at the temple and bodies. The one who yelled, the leader, however looked like the captain of the group and was staring straight at Yujin. "Who are you?" The captain asked, or demanded with the tone of his voice.

Yujin just stared at the man before turning around, returning to his original goal. This seemed to only make the Iwa-nin captain angrier. "I said halt!" And then he formed some hand signs. "Doton: Rock Wave!" A wave of rocks was fired from the ground heading straight towards Yujin, who still had his back turned. But just as the rocks were about to hit him Yujin turned around slowly, with an annoyed look on his face. "Guess I'll have to deal with the pest before doing inspecting." Yujin muttered.

An explosion soon filled the valley followed by multiple screams.

**Three Years Ago: Three Days After Naruto Begain Training**

Naruto was jumping from rock to rock, heading towards the village that the kids he met several days ago lived. Sadahiko said that they could only use the training room once every five days, because a day in the real world was a year inside the room. Any more time in there would cause serious backlashes to the users. So yesterday he had to rest and rejuvenated before he could do any serious moving around. But now that he was back to full strength he decided to head towards the village.

An hour or so later he had arrived at his destination. He looked down from a cliff and could see a village with several lush fields surrounding it. There was nothing really fancy about it but Naruto figured that as long as it was safe and comfortable appearances didn't really mean anything. He could see people going about their lives without a care in the world. Adults were working in the fields, conversing with each other, or raising their young. And speaking of children Naruto could see several familiar children playing in a field on top of a low hill. Deciding to go and meet them first before heading towards the village, Naruto made his decent.

He had just landed when a ball struck him in the face. "Ow!" Naruto yelled as he fell down on his back, his body twitching. The one who threw it, Misho, blinked a few times before she recognized the spiky yellow hair sticking out. "Mister!" She shouted and ran towards Naruto as said boy had just gotten back up.

Naruto just rubbed his head and then grinned at the little girl. "Hey there…Misho was it?" Said girl nodded as Naruto handed back her ball. "I thought I visit you guys like I said I would and so, here I am."

Misho giggled and for the next couple of minutes Naruto played with her and her friends to pass the time. But soon they decided to head back to the village with Naruto following them along while he was bombarded with questions from the children. Once they reached the first house Naruto spotted Kotai and vice versa. The two briefly greeted each other before Kotai decided to introduce Naruto to his parents.

Kotai and Misho's mother was a woman named Naoru. She was a simple looking woman; tan skin, purple eyes and had long dark red hair that went down to her back and suit well with her purple kimono. Her husband Jimusho was a tall man with brown hair that went down to his neck and had brown eyes like the rest of his family and wore a short blue kimono.

At the beginning they were a little skeptical of Naruto since they rarely had any visitors in the village. But after hearing from their kids of how he acted with them, they decided to give him a chance. At the end after watching Naruto play with theirs and the other children, as well as helping around the village, they and everyone began to like Naruto.

For the next few days Naruto made multiple trips to the village, liking being with other people after a long time. The younger kids were especially fond of him, since they had never seen a ninja before. They would always be in awe of the techniques that Naruto could do and whenever he was with Kotai's family, Misho would cling to the Uzumaki and play with him like he as another brother for her. During those times Naruto felt something inside of him, a feeling he had never felt before: happiness, true happiness and a sense of belonging. He never felt such a thing back in Konoha.

Currently he was helping Jimusho, Kotai and several other men with bringing back wood from the forest. As they were walking Kotai asked Naruto a question. "Hey Naruto, what's it like outside the valley?"

"Huh?" Naruto asked, caught off guard by the sudden question.

Kotai rolled his eyes. "You know what's it like? Since you're family lives outside the valley you must know what its like out there." He explained. "I've never been outside of the valley as much, except for a few times when Dad and the others go to trade with nearby villages and come back telling of what happened. But that's all I really know so I was wondering if you could tell me more."

Naruto thought for a second about how to answer that question. Finally after what seemed like forever Naruto replied, "Well I don't know much about other places, but I do know that there are a lot of shinobi villages, one of them is Konoha in the Land of Fire. I was there for a few years before leaving and settling out here. Ninjas are always moving around nations doing missions or just traveling. Non-ninjas just go about their daily lives, thought noble families can go anywhere. Some act like assholes but there are some who are nice."

Kotai whistled as he listened. "Damn sounds like it's a busy place outside of the valley."

Naruto chuckled. "Yeah it really is."

Two hours later they had returned back to the village and stacked the wood inside the village's shed. "Well I better get back. Jiji is going to be worried about me and if I'm a second late he'll skin me alive." Naruto said to Kotai and his family.

Jimusho and Naoru laughed at that. "Yeah we don't want to worry you're family. Thanks again too." Jimusho said as he shook Naruto's hand. Then Kotai did the same thing after Naoru gave Naruto a hug and a kiss. Finally Misho ran up to Naruto and hugged his leg, which Naruto returned. Suddenly Misho pulled back and took something out of her pocket.

"Here you go Naruto-nii-san! I made it for you!" Misho exclaimed as she held out the object. It was a necklace with five beads on it. Each bead was a different color; from left to right it were brown, blue, red, green and yellow. It was a simple design but very thoughtful.

Naruto gave Misho a soft smile as he took the necklace and put it around his neck. "Thanks Misho-neechan, I really appreciate it." Said girl just gave him a wide grin as Naruto took off back to Sadahiko.

**Back in the Lair**

"Omnyton: Red Hot Bolt!"

Coming from Naruto's right hand was a ball of red energy. Once it was good enough Naruto fired it towards a large boulder. The boulder was destroyed upon impact. From afar watching was Sadahiko, his eyes dark as he examined Naruto's skills, along with several other things at the same time.

Soon Naruto formed more hand signs, ending them with a ram seal, the same seal that Sadahiko used his Omnyton techniques. "Omnyton: Sky Dragon White Cannon!" Then he raised his right hand and fired a powerful blue electrical beam with a dragon's head towards the distance. The results were a massive explosion that blew Naruto and Sadahiko's hair backwards but the two remain still.

Finally Sadahiko nodded his head. "Very good Naruto, very good. You've improved much at a faster pace then I expected."

Naruto blushed a little at the praise and was about to reply but Sadahiko had more to say.

"But Naruto let me ask you something." Sadahiko said as he stared down at his descendant. "Your goal is to achieve peace is it not?"

Naruto, not knowing where this was going, merely nodded his head in response.

Sadahiko looked at Naruto for a second before asking his next question. "Do you believe that everyone deserves peace? Despite what cruel acts they might have done to others…or you?"

That took Naruto by surprise; he hadn't been expecting that question. He never actually gave it any thought if people really _deserve_ peace. And about what people did to him in the past…well the mention of that brought some deep hidden emotions back up. "I-I don't know" Was all Naruto could say. "I mean, I think that people should get over their grudges and join together. I think that's the kind of peace I want."

The elder Uzumaki stared at Naruto for a minute or two before finally saying, "Naruto, do you truly mean that?" He paused, letting that sink in before continuing. "I lost many people that I held close to me: my parents, my sister, my closes friends, my teacher, my wife, my child, I lost them all. And yet I still live, meaning I can still do something for them. I can still make those pay for taking them away from me. To me that is peace. You speak of peace you speak with such conviction it's almost true but… are you saying all that while holding back your true emotions? Because let me tell you this: Everyone's peace is different, including mine. However my peace also has a different word to describe it, it is a peace where not all can be forgiven or deserving of such a world and… someday you might know what that other word is as well, though the method will probably leave you near the edge of insanity unless you're strong enough."

Naruto was about to ask what that meant but Sadahiko continued. "If you truly wish to know what I mean, then think, meditate, remember and open yourself to your emotions…all of your emotions, even the ones you've buried deep down inside of you. Because as of right now the only thing we have in common besides our blood…is that we both suffered the feeling of betrayal." And with that Sadahiko walked off, leaving a confused Naruto.

"What did he mean by that?" Naruto wondered.

**Two Days Later in the Evening**

Naruto was jumping through the valley back to the village to see his friends. He hadn't left in the morning because a storm had appeared and it would've been dangerous to move through the rocky valley with the stones all wet. However even now he was moving at a slower pace because he was going over what Sadahiko had said. The words struck deeply into Naruto, and when he began opening himself to all of his emotions and his memories, what he found, no felt, was shocking. "I can't believe I had so much anger in me." Naruto said to himself.

"**You really shouldn't be that surprise you know." **Kurama replied. Being inside Naruto, the Kyuubi also had a link to the boy's emotions and memories and thus felt all the rage that Naruto had kept inside of him. **"I'll admit that you're one of the few that can stay sane from taking all of that kind of punishment however its impossible for a person **_**not**_** to feel resentment towards the ones who inflict it."**

Naruto had to admit that Kurama had a point there. Even now he could remember all the times people of Konoha looked down at him with scorn and hate, parents keeping their children far from him. Then there were the whispers, the taunts and worse of all the beatings, especially on his birthday where he would be beaten within an inch of his life until he was saved and brought to the hospital. He felt so sad, so alone, in so much pain, and at the same time angry, rage, hatred, like he just wanted to return the pain they gave him right back at them but ten times more. However he would just move on and cover it with happiness and a wide smile. The only times when his smile wasn't fake was when he was with Ichiraku or the Sandaime.

The Sandaime…now that Naruto thought about it, he began to feel some resentment towards the old Hokage. Resentment of how he never told him of his burden, his clan or his own parents. It felt like the Hokage believed that Naruto didn't deserve to know of his parents yet, despite that it would bring so much comfort to the blonde.

Then there was Jiraiya, his godfather. Oh now with him, Naruto felt so much hate towards the Sannin. He was named his godfather by Naruto's own parents, yet was never there for him, leaving Naruto to fend for himself while he was probably going to brothels.

All these thoughts and memories made Naruto think about what Sadahiko also said, that his 'peace' had another word to it. For a brief moment Naruto almost figured out what that other word was when something stopped him in his tracks.

"No…" He whispered as Naruto watched from the edge of a cliff looking over the village. Said village was now in flames, houses burning down, the ground scorched black and worst of all, people were screaming and dying. Without even thinking about contacting Yujin and Sadahiko, Naruto made a dash towards the village, hoping to stop whatever was happening.

However getting closer just made Naruto more horrified then before. As he passed by the first house he could see the bodies of the residents. It was the same as he moved in further into the village; bodies littered the streets, with either stab wounds, body parts missing. Many were lying in a pile, a sign that the men must have been trying to protect their loves ones, though it ended in vain. 'Who could've done this? And why?' Naruto asked himself as he kept looking for survivors. "Kurama do you sense anything?" Naruto asked the Kyuubi since the fox could detect negative thoughts.

"**Nothing" **Kurama replied. **"Whoever has done this clearly is keeping their cool while killing. Either the person is some kind of drone or they don't care that they're killing villagers."**

"Damn it!" Naruto cursed when a scream reached his ears, causing him to pale. That was Misho's voice.

"MISHO!" Naruto yelled as he ran down a familiar path towards said girl's house. When he reached it he saw Jimusho's body at the front door with a shovel in his hand. That was a clear sign that the man had tried to fight back against the killers but was overwhelmed.

"**Oi Naruto!" **Kurama shouted. **"I can detect at least five life forces inside the house…shit two just went out and ones barely hanging in there. Move your ass before its too late!"**

Snapping out of his stupor Naruto ran into the house looking for the sign of life that Kurama had detected. That's when he saw one of the doors upstairs opened and ran up the walls towards it, ignoring the stairs altogether. When he reached the top he had to hold in his shock upon seeing the bodies of both Naoru and Kotai, the mother holding her son in her arms while Kotai was near the opened door. And Naruto soon opened said door so he could get through; what he saw broke the young Uzumaki to his core. "Misho…"

As if in a daze Naruto walked towards the middle of the room to the crumple form of Mishio who had apparently covered herself in a blanket, hiding her face. Once Naruto reached her, he gently picked up the little girl and cradled her body close to his. He knew that he was to late because he didn't even feel a pulse from her, so he just held her close and cried; crying at the loss of life, the loss of someone so young, crying at losing people that he felt a family bond with and finally crying at how helpless he was to save them and he was still alive.

Deep within Naruto's subconscious Kurama felt a tremble happening throughout the chamber, **"What the hell?" **The fox asked. **"What is this feeling? This power…its so wild and loose but also familiar too." **Suddenly Kurama's eyes widened as he recognized the feeling. **"T-this is-"**

"I think I heard something." A voice outside the room said. Soon a shadow could be seen, followed by several more until several figures were looking down at Naruto, who was still focused on the still form in his hands.

"Whose this?" One of the figures asked.

"Don't know" The one at the front, the leader by the looks of it, replied. "But the orders were no survivors." And with that he pulled out a kunai and lunged at Naruto's back. But before the kunai could hit Naruto's back, the blonde grabbed the man's wrist with lighting fast reflexes, shocking everyone in the room.

**Elsewhere in the village**

A gathering of multiple people, men and women alike, could be seen. While they all wore various attires, the only common things that they wore were short black midriff jackets with red stripes over the shoulders to carry a tanto and finally plain white masks covered their faces.

"Anything?" A man with short brown hair and a ponytail asked.

A woman, with black hair, with a red strand mixed in, going down to her neck, shook her head. "No Naze-san, despite searching every house and other areas after killing the populace, we still can't locate the scrolls."

Another man, this time with a shaved head, asked, "What should we do now Naze-san? Danzo-sama will be most disappointed if we can't locate the scroll."

The man named Naze was silent for a moment before looking at another mask man with long smooth brown hair. "We're still waiting for Mi's team to report back. While we wait Hayai, can you see anything with your Byakugan from here? The scrolls might be hiding behind something using chakra."

The Hyuuga, since he had the Byakugan so he must be one, was about to make the hand signs when suddenly a noise caught everyone's attention. All the Root agents spun around and could see the silhouette of a person approaching them. "Mi is that you?" Naze asked.

The person did not respond, but heavy breathing could be heard as the figure came closer. Finally the person came out of the shadows, revealing themselves. It was a boy, a teenager judging by his size, wearing a brown cloak with a hood covering his head. On the front of the cloak was a patch of wetness, like water got on it or something. But what caught the Root agent's attention were his hands that were opening and closing into a fist.

They were covered in blood.

Before any of them could move the boy raised his head up, but the only thing that could be seen of his face were his eyes. They were a silver metallic purple with six black rings converging on a small black dot like pupil at the center of the eyes. The way they were staring at the ANBU was terrifying, with a few of the agents stepping back. Rage and hatred could be felt radiating off the boy's body and for a moment some of the Root agents thought they saw a demon behind the boy.

Naze was the first to recover and reached for his tanto. "Don't just stand there! Kill him!"

But just as he finished that sentence the boy, AKA Naruto, had pulled out a ninjato from nowhere and beheaded Naze with a single swipe, with speed that could be consider on par with the Yondaime Hokage. Before the body even hit the ground Naruto was already on the move again, this time throwing the ninjato at another Root ANBU. This one however was prepared and raised his tanto to deflect it but when he did, he noticed that there were seals on the ninjato, the same kind for explosion tags. "Shit-"the ANBU said before he and several others near him were engulfed in a massive explosion.

The remaining ANBU remained still, their eyes darting around for any signs of the boy. But what they didn't expect was for the boy to pop behind two more ANBU that were the furthest away from the explosion. Naruto began to form hand seals. 'Omnyton: Accursed Pikes!' Naruto thought to himself as he grabbed the back of ANBU's heads and slammed them to the ground. When they hit the ground, something pierced through the two Root agent's heads and went into the ground. Before the other ANBU could move in, several of them were impaled by long black spears that popped out of the ground. A few managed to avoid them with just a few injuries but the rest were all skewered.

"W-what is he?" The female Root ANBU whispered, her training forgotten as she felt fear filling her body. There was no response, except for a loud barbaric roar coming from Naruto for the first time since he began the assault. Once he was done he shot towards the remaining ANBU, giving them the same fate he gave to their comrades.

A few hours later the sun began to rise, shining of the ruins of the village just as the fires died down. In a large opening in the village, stood Naruto Uzumaki, surrounded by mutilated corpses of the Root ANBU. His hood was down revealing his face and the scars he got during his recuperation from the seals on his body; no injuries from this slaughter. However his eyes were dark with shadows underneath them and his hair was almost covered entirely in blood along with his hands mixed with dirt.

But none of that seem to matter to Naruto, who began walking as if in a daze. His eyes, now turned into a fully matured Rinnegan, took in every detail of the ruin village while walking down a straight path. Even though the flames died down he could still smell the burnt wood and stones of the houses, the burned flesh of the villagers. Every single think in this tragic place, Naruto could see it all.

Finally he stopped and looked back at the bodies of dead ninja. If he was shocked to have noticed that they were wearing Konoha headbands, Naruto showed no sign of it. However his thoughts went back to something Sadahiko had said, _"I lost many people that I held close to me: my parents, my sister, my closes friends, my teacher, my wife, my child, I lost them all. And yet I still live, meaning I can still do something for them. I can still make those pay for taking them away from me."_

Alive. Do something. Make them pay.

"_Everyone's peace is different, including mine. However my peace also has a different word to describe it, it is a peace where not all can be forgiven or deserving of such a world and… someday you might know what that other word is as well, though the method will probably leave you near the edge of insanity unless you're strong enough."_

"The other word…" Naruto mumbled to himself as he slowly flexed his hands and grabbed a nearby shovel. Then he walked towards a piece of flat land that wasn't destroyed. Once he was good enough he began digging. "The other word is…"

**Few Hours Later, Underground Lair**

"I see" Sadahiko commented after he and Yujin finished listening to Naruto's tale of what had transpired.

Naruto just looked back at them, his Rinnegan staring at his ancestor's dark blue eyes. It was a moment before Sadahiko askd, "So…what will you do now? Do you still wish to bring peace to the world?"

"No" Naruto said flat and quick. Yujin tilt his head to the side confused while Sadahiko merely gave Naruto a critical eye. "I no longer desire that kind of peace…a peace that brings happiness to those who don't deserve it." Naruto said. "Now I want the peace you want. Now I want…revenge, for everything done to me, for everyone that was taken from me. I want revenge for what was done to me and return it back ten folds. And not just for me, for others who were hurt by something they had no control over, like our clan that was nearly wiped out because others feared them. I want to see every single one of them to pay."

Sadahiko just stared at Naruto for a minute or so before letting out a sigh. "Very well then" He said as he stood up. "Then let us begin with our plan for the fall of our enemies and the coming of a world that is free from fear and oppression: The Grand Ascension Plan!"

**Flashback End, Present Time**

Naruto opened his eyes, looking down at a particular tombstone of the fallen Kensai villagers. Besides this tombstone was a familiar necklace with five beads of five different colors. The name on the stone was…Misho.

"Our goal…revenge…" Naruto thought to himself as he continued to stare at the tombstone. "Will become a reality."

Soon the silence was interrupted when Yujin appeared, kneeling behind Naruto. "Naruto we've go trouble! One of the temples has been raided!"

Naruto's eyes widened as he spun around to look at Yujin. "Did they succeed and which temple was it?"

Yujin, without hesitating, replied, "Whoever it was succeeded though not without taking huge losses. As for which one it was it was the Gyuseki (Ox Stone)"

The name made Naruto's eyes widened even further before narrowing, anger in his eyes now. Whoever raided the Gyuseki temple must've known the importance of the item within. And knowing what the item was it wasn't hard to guess who the thief was. 'So the snake has made his move eh? Guess I'll have to find Gaoh and step up the plan.' Naruto thought to himself before disappearing in a blur.

**Orochimaru's Eastern Hideout**

Deep within the underground lair, Orochimaru the Sannin, one of Konoha's greatest traitors, was occupying himself by reading a fully preserved journal with the Uzumaki symbol on the front. Standing a healthy distance from the Sanin was his second-in-command Kabuto Yakushi watched as his master flipped through each page.

Suddenly Orochimaru began to chuckle lowly as he was on the last few pages. "Yes, this will serve very well in my goal." Then he looked at the silver hair medical-nin. "You've done well Kabuto, though I must ask about how you dealt with the temple's defenses?"

Kabuto smirked and replied, "Well it was quite easy. I simply had those missing-nins that we hired to go in first and take the brunt of the traps." He smirk grew as he pushed his glasses up. "After all, they were going to die anyway, might as well have them die in a beneficial way."

Orochimaru merely just smirked before looking back at the book. As he did Kabuto continued speaking. "Still I'm shock that this is the personal journal of Sadahiko Uzumaki of Uzushiogakure. I would've thought that he would set up more security, besides the genjutsu seal and the traps."

"Whoever said that this was" Orochimaru replied as he closed the book. When he looked at Kabuto's confused look he continued, "From what my former sensei told me, Sadahiko was the kind of man who was ten stepped ahead of others especially when it came to knowledge. This is merely a journal of a certain topic that he had once researched…something that will finally lead me to true immortality and the knowledge of all techniques in the world."

**And there you have it! The event that changed Naruto towards one of peace and revenge! Review! And don't forget to check out my profile page of my challenges! PM or leave a review if you want to do any of them.**

**Wacko12**


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